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The Argonaut. 



Vol. LXXXII. No. 2128. 



San Francisco, January 5, 1918. 



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FORTY- FIRST YEAR. 



ALFRED HOLMAN ------- Editor 

TABLE OP CONTENTS. 

EDITORIAL: Mr. Neylan's Disclosures— The Government and 
the Railroads — Gentlemen of the Cabinet, Your Plain 

Duty — Editorial Notes 1-3 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 3 

THE THEATRE OF WAR. By Sidney Coryn 3-4 

OLD FAVORITES: "The Sands of Dee," by Charles Kingsley; 
"Out Where the West Begins," by Arthur Chapman; "The 

Call of the Wild," by Robert W. Service 4 

DR. VAN DYKE OX THE WAR: The Former American Min- 
ister to Holland Talks of the Causes and the Issues 5 

BUSINESS NOTES 6 

RUSSIA THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE: Charles Edward Rus- 
sell Talks of Revolutionary Conditions 7 

CURRENT VERSE 7 

THE LATEST BOOKS: Critical Notes— Briefer Reviews— Gos- 
sip of Books and Authors — New Books Received 8-9 

DRAMA: "Turn to the Right." By Josephine Hart Phelps 10 

FOYER AND BOX-OFFICE CHAT 11 

VANITY FAIR: The Lady and tie Soldier 12 

PARADIS POLISHES THE BOOTS. By Henry Barbusse 12 

STORYETTES: Grave and Gay, Epigrammatic and Otherwise.. 13 

THE MERRY MUSE 13 

PERSONAL: Notes and Gossip — Movements and Whereabouts. . 14 
TRAVELING TREES: Vegetation That Moves from Place to 

Place 15 

THE ALLEGED HUMORISTS: Paragraphs Ground Out by the 

Dismal Wits of the Day 16 



Mr. Neylan's Disclosures. 

Mr. Neylan, as his name would indicate, is nothing 
more nor better than a shift}- politician. Whatever he 
says or does must, of course, be interpreted and dis- 
counted in respect of his character for adroitness and 
selfishness. Then, along with a whole field of second- 
rate men, he wants to be governor. That he had 
reasons of a personal sort for quitting the State 
Board of Defense we may easily believe, just as we 
may doubt the explanation which he has made to the 
public. None the less there are elements of obvious 
truth in Mr. Neylan's arraignment of the Board of 
Defense. The only clearly defined activity of this de- 
lectable body is its expense account. It has thus far 
consummated approximately forty thousand dollars of 
the taxpayers' money without having done anything of 
observable value in the matter of public defense. Pos- 
sible advantage may come from paying the "traveling 
expenses" of various members of the board up and 
down the state, but surely Chairman Naftzger has not 
returned value received for his salary of $500 per 
month. Why should it be necessary these times to pay 
anybody a salary for patriotic labors, even assuming 
that such labors have been performed? Some hun- 
dreds of men, leading figures in the greater lines of 
industry and commerce, have been giving their services 



to the government gratis; and it is of record that up- 
wards of seventeen thousand citizens, many of them 
residents of California, have made application to Mr. 
Hoover for uncompensated and unheralded work in his 
department. Could not the state easily find a man in 
every way of equal rank with Mr. Naftzger who would 
be willing or even glad to perform such labors as may 
be implied in the chairmanship of the Board of De- 
fense, on patriotic account? 



The Government and the Railroads. 

Since the memory of this generation runneth not to 
the contrary the energies of government in dealing 
with transportation — more particularly railroad trans- 
portation — have been directed to the end of enforcing 
the principle of competition. Attempts great or small 
to augment efficiencies or to promote economies by 
''pooling," "merging," and other cooperative devices 
have been repressed — even penalized. The heavy hand 
of government, state and national, has been laid upon 
transportation companies and managers who have 
sought to expedite traffic or to save cost through ar- 
rangements founded in principles held to be scientific 
and legitimate in respect of every other form of human 
activity. 

Thus there has come into being a maze of re- 
strictive laws making it impossible for railroad man- 
agers upon their own initiative — even under the 
pressure of war requirements — to achieve efficiency in 
the transportation system of the country. All along 
railroad managers have known how to bring the system 
as a whole to a unified efficiency, but their hands were 
tied. Lacking authority to disregard a tangled web of 
restrictive legislation, they have lacked the power to 
so work the railways as to make them render a service 
of which they are normally capable. It has taken the 
emergency of war to illustrate the unsoundness of the 
principle under which government has been laboring 
for many years ; and again it has taken the authority of 
government to overbear and break through the hamper- 
ing tangle in which government itself has enmeshed 
railroad systems. 

It would be idle now to speculate about what the 
railroads might have done if they had been freed from 
the restrictions under which they have long labored. 
The government has solved the problem by the short 
cut of "seizing" the properties rather than by the 
simpler means of nullifying its own thousand-and-one 
restrictions and thus giving a free head and a free 
hand to the owners of properties. 



ment itself. Its annual revenues are three times 
greater than those of the national treasury and its 
annual outlay for wages and materials is more than 
double the total cost of national administration. It 
employs more men than the government even including 
the army and navy in ordinary times. It is a much 
more complex and difficult business than that of the 
government and it has long engrossed a higher degree 
of expert knowledge and a larger measure of individual 
talent than has been sufficient for the operation of the 
governing machine. To turn over this colossal interest, 
with its power to affect the welfare of every man, 
woman, and child in the country, to the tender mercies 
of politics — and politicians — would be a calamity of 
unparalleled magnitude both as to its material and 
moral implications. That it would mean the vitiation 
and ultimately the destruction of our system is not an 
extravagant prophecy. It must not be. Our patriotism, 
our instinctive common sense, must forefend us against 
this most direful hazard. 

The arrangement under which governmental control 
of the railroads has been inaugurated is in the nature 
of things tentative and temporary. It is unthinkable 
that a responsibility equal in some ways, and in many 
ways surpassing, the magnitude of all the other opera- 
tions of the government should become a mere adjunct 
of one of the several executive departments. If the 
government is permanently or even for a considerable 
period to direct the transportation activities of the 
country it must perforce bring into existence an or- 
ganization adequate to the work. 



Nobody doubts for a moment that the railroads of 
the country, operated as a unified system, can achieve 
results in expedited and augmented service impossible as 
separated systems denied the privilege of working co- 
operatively. Nor does anybody doubt that very notable 
economies may be effected under the principle of uni- 
fication as distinct from the competitive principle. But 
everything will depend upon the manner in which the 
control now assumed by the government shall be exer- 
cised. Nobody will believe that government officials 
selected upon political considerations and lacking 
special knowledge and training can operate the 
railroads of the country more effectively than spe- 
cialists expert through long practice and chosen by 
private owners. Still less is it conceivable that the 
railroads if subordinated to political motives and or- 
ganized under political authority will do better work 
or at less cost than in times past. All, we repeat, will 
depend upon the manner in which governmental control 
shall be exercised. 

The hope is that the very magnitude of the in- 
terests involved will sober the head and steady the 
hand of authority. The business of the unified rail- 
road system is greater thar that of the govern- 



That control for the period of the war will lead to 

ultimate nationalization of the railroads under one plan 
or another is almost self-evident. After a period of 
unification, separation and re-distribution will be a 
physical problem too serious for practical solution. 
Temporary abandonment of the competitive principle 
in transportation can mean nothing less than its ulti- 
mate permanent overthrow. It is now seen that the 
competitive principle is an unsound one — wasteful at a 
hundred points, fatal to efficiency and demoralizing in 
its economic artificiality. Under one motive or another 
there will come a universal demand for control of the 
railroads by the government, probably for their full 
and complete ownership by the government. Organized 
labor will see in the new dispensation opportunities 
real or possible tending to its advantage, and its voice, 
now so potent a force in political affairs, will be for 
nationalization. Shippers, if unification shall succeed 
as it ought in expediting and economizing the service, 
will likewise be for nationalization. Even owners of 
railway properties will, we suspect, be ready enough 
to evade prospective difficulties and troubles by trans- 
muting their holdings into government securities. 

In view of all these considerations we regard it as in- 
evitable that in assuming control of transportation for 
the period of the war the government has in effect 
taken on a permanent enlargement of its responsibili- 
ties and duties. It goes without saying that an incre- 
ment of responsibility so vast will have a radical if not 
indeed a revolutionary effect upon our system. With 
governments, as with men, new and enlarged duties 
make for better character or for worse. The govern- 
ment of the United States if it shall possess itself of ' 
the railroad systems will either rise in its character or 
decline in its character. If it shall rise to the degree of 
administering the great business of transportation on 
lines above political calculation it will become a better 
thing. If it shall apply influences and motives of poli- 
tics to the transportation system it will inevitably re- 
organize itself on a lowered moral basis. S 
business as that of transportation can n 
upon political considerations and by p 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 5, 1918. 



out a progressive moral corrosion leading ultimately to 
disaster. 

Unification of the transportation system should not 
only work out in expedition of the service, but in many 
forms of economy. Eliminations of duplicated service, 
re-routings upon considerations of time and cost, 
consolidation of terminals, unification of purchasing — 
at these and a hundred other points there should be 
saving of expense. Rivalry as between hitherto com- 
peting lines must of course cease, with elimination of 
costly organizations for working up business. Legal or- 
ganizations of the several companies hitherto have been 
largely if not chiefly employed in connection with mat- 
ters rendered obsolete by the new condition. No small 
item in the current expense account of railroad com- 
panies has been the maintenance by each of a defensive 
organization — defensive in relation to possible en- 
croachment by rivals. All this, of course, must go by 
the board if governmental control is to be what we 
assume it will be, a permanent thing. 

Incidentally local communities are likely to find 
themselves sufferers in many unexpected ways, not 
least through consolidation of purchases. Each great 
system has as a matter of policy spent its money 
for supplies largely in its own field. San Francisco, 
for example, has profited by the policy of our local 
roads in seeking their supplies in the home market, 
with particular attention to large buyers of transporta- 
tion. With the roads operated on government account, 
local and other minor considerations will of course be 
eliminated. Thus the many millions hitherto expended 
by the railroads of California in the local markets may 
in large measure be diverted under a centralized pur- 
chasing system to the greater markets of the manufac- 
turing centres. A very considerable element of our 
local population has long and loudly clamored for public 
ownership. We venture the prophecy that no great 
time will elapse before local interests bereft of 
preferential favors will be sighing for the "good old 
days," when our railroads were not mere links in a 
long chain of nationalized interest, but our very own. 



Very obviously certain centres have benefited directly 
by the policy of particular railroad companies. It 
has been to the interest of the roads to promote 
centralization. Chicago is a creation of centraliza- 
tion. The great business which it enjoys would to a 
very considerable extent have been divided and scat- 
tered but for systems of rating arbitrarily enforced 
San Francisco likewise has enjoyed advantages which 
have had no small part in the upbuilding of her com- 
mercial fortunes. Under governmental control there 
will be a wider distribution of favors. The whole 
scheme of things will be remodeled upon considerations 
which have been disregarded by private companies, but 
which government under the conditions of its own in- 
terest is bound to respect. 



It has been a common prophecy that the change 
from private to public control of transportation would 
be attended by a colossal conflict between holders of 
railroad securities and the government. But we find 
the railroad owners of the country entirely satisfied, 
not only with the immediate action of the govern- 
ment, but with prospects of more radical courses 
in future. Explanation lies in the assurances of 
the President's declaration in taking possession of 
the properties. Dividends at current rates are guar- 
anteed and it is further promised that the proper- 
ties will be maintained in their physical integrity. 
These pledges completely nullify apprehensions of con- 
fiscation or of policies tending to the taking over of 
the properties without adequate compensation. With 
private interest thus secure private owners of railroad 
securities are content to let matters take their course. 
In truth they find in the action of the government and 
in the pledges which accompany it a certain satisfying 
conclusion to pending troubles and long-sustained fears. 



There is an element of humor in the sudden termina- 
tion brought by the government's action of the authori- 
ties and dignities lately reposing in the Interstate Com- 
merce Cmimission and in the many state boards more 
or less 'iusv in restrictive and other forms of control 
: rail' )ads. A multitude of issues great and small 
i to now have been occupying the attention of 
: august bodies have, like Banquo's ghost, faded 
air. Likewise many subjects of litigation 



have vanished as if by magic. With full and complete 
authority in the hands of a Director of Railroads at 
Washington, holding by proxy the President's own and 
unquestioned powers, a multitude of hitherto vexed and 
vexing questions have automatically been nullified. 



We have already referred to the political hazards 
involved in nationalization of the railroads. There re- 
mains another very serious consideration, namely, the 
relation of organized labor to the roads and through 
them to the government. Labor is very definitely a 
partner in the business of transportation. Since the 
enactment of the Adamson bill a year ago it may almost 
be said to have become the predominant partner. What 
now will be the attitude of labor with the railroad 
properties in possession of the government? It does 
not call for the spirit of prophecy to foretell that it 
will seek to dictate to the government in the matter of 
wages, hours, and other considerations directly related 
to the operation of the roads. There is pending a de- 
mand for another large and disproportionate increase in 
railroad labor rates and there are indications that the 
Director of Railroads, "acting for the President, will 
meet the demand with concession. Already there are 
indications tending to this outcome. Under his powers 
it becomes an easy matter for the system to concede to 
labor whatever it may demand and concurrently recoup 
itself through increase of freight and passenger rates. 
Privileges which the Interstate Commerce Commission 
have denied to the railroads privately managed the Di- 
rector of Railroads will take to himself. It will be 
another case of "Jones he pays the freight." 



with the result that ex-Presidents of the United States 
are not permitted to set foot in a naval yard or on a 
naval ship, enough we think has been said. Mr. Sec- 
retary Lansing will not hold that his abilities are com 
parable to those of Mr. Elihu Root as the head of the 
affairs of state. Mr. Secretary McAdoo certainly has a 
"man's size job" as director-general of the railroads of 
the<t£u^j^3tfiesr'and should be graciously pleased to 
see his treasury portfolio entrusted to the certainly no 
less capable hands of, let us say, Mr. Vanderlip. 

It is no spirit of raillery that prompts the saying 
of these things. The consideration is a momentous 
one. The congressional investigations which are under 
way are but a sign of the popular dissatisfaction 
against the present ministers of war. We do not pre- 
tend to know whether the President himself is satisfied 
with them, whether if their resignations were tendered 
without reservation he would or would not reappoint 
them. But certain it is that he should be given a 
chance to form a war cabinet to his liking without the 
embarrassment of being compelled to call for resigna- 
tions, and certain it is that the stamp of approval upon 
any cabinet officer who. under these circumstances, 
should be reappointed by the President would go a long 
way toward his rehabilitation in public confidence. 
And one thing is beyond peradventure. and the Ad- 
ministration may count upon it. if this be not done the 
next congressional election will sweep the Democrats 
out of control of the lower house, and as certainly. 
when the time comes, out of the control of the Senate. 



Gentlemen of the Cabinet, Your Plain Duty ! 

Gentlemen of the cabinet, a plain duty lies before 
you. It is plain to all of the people of the United 
States, if not to you. It will be made plain to you as 
you answer to yourselves two questions. In time of 
war is the country entitled to the services of the 
best men in the nation as the heads of the great de- 
partments dealing with the war, or is it entitled only 
to the services of the best men of the political party 
which happens to be in power? Unhesitatingly you 
will answer, we think, that it is entitled to employ the 
best men in the nation. 

Are you the best men in the nation for the positions 
which respectively you fill? If you believe you are not, 
then your path of duty is patent. Even if you believe 
you are, then it must be suggested that the decisive de- 
termination of the fact does not rest with you, but rests 
with the President, and the same path of duty stands 
plain before you. That path leads directly to the 
White House, and that duty demands that you travel 
that path and tender your resignations to the Presi- 
dent. 

You need not be reminded of the tremendous changes 
in national and international affairs that have taken 
place since your nomination to office. You should not 
need to be reminded of the embarrassment which this 
course would spare the President if perchance he 
should in his heart of hearts desire to make cabinet 
changes. Upon the other hand, if after such resigna- 
tions the President sees fit to reappoint any of you, 
then in the public mind your positions and your in- 
fluence are fortified a thousandfold by virtue of the fact 
that the President has re-selected you as his ministers 
in time of war. 

It is in no carping spirit that we call attention to the 
fact that the two heads of the great military depart- 
ments of the government are not only both civilians, 
both confessedly ignorant of military and naval affairs, 
but in addition are both ultra pacifists. It is too plain 
that in their hope that this war will prove a little war 
they are preparing to wage a little war. When you, 
Mr. Secretary Baker, "glory" in your mistakes and un- 
preparedness because they establish that we are a 
"nation of peace"; when it is demonstrated that the 
munition plants of the United States, which ten months 
ago, at the time of our declaration of war, were manu- 
facturing ten thousand rifles a day, and are now manu- 
facturing but half that number, further comment is un- 
necessary. When you, Mr. Secretary Daniels, are re- 
ported as declaring that improvement in our naval guns 
and gunnery will depend entirely upon "whether we 
are to wage an offensive or defensive war." when you 
treat the American navy as a part of your private es- 
tate, and put up "no trespassing" signs against the 
Navy League because its president has offended you, 



Editorial Notes. 
Again, and for the fourth time, the Shipping Board 
has been reorganized. It will have to undergo this 
process from time to time until President Wilson shall 
learn that no double-headed scheme of administration 
ever produces practical results. In the meantime the 
"ninety days" in which the country was promised 
launchings have passed — and nearly double ninety days 
more. 

Our sensational newspapers are tumbling over each 
other in haste — for their own repute and profit — to 
inaugurate movements of pretentious beneficence for 
relief of "war-worn Europe." Far be it from the 
Argonaut to put even so much as a straw in the way 
of any kindly purpose, even though its inspiration 
may be that of calculated selfishness. But we beg 
leave to say that the job before us now is that of 
winning the war. All other purposes are merely acces- 
sory and subordinate. Being so, they ought to be 
subordinated. The energies of the country now should 
go to the essential business of supporting the war and 
by support of the war to the winning of the war. 
When the war shall be won there will be time enough 
to rake over the debris and to study ways and means 
of reconstruction. 

The government has been in control of the railroads 
of the country for less than a week, but even thus soon 
it promises one reform in transportation which rail- 
road managers for a whole generation were not able 
to achieve. It proposes to route trains "around" Chi- 
cago rather than through Chicago. Happy deliver- 
ance! These many years Chicago, by her political and 
commercial might, has compelled all traffic east and 
west north of the Missouri line to halt and yield tribute. 
It has been impracticable to get from one side of the 
country to the other without stopping over at Chicago, 
with incidental patronage of her "pie counters." In 
the last years of his life Mr. Harriman in a private 
talk declared that he intended to break through this 
inhibition and operate trains directly between the Pa- 
cific and Atlantic shores : but death came before he was 
able to bring about this much-desired consummation. 
If now the government, in control of the roads, shall 
prove itself strong enough to leap through this long- 
sustained and impertinent barrier, Hats Off will be due 
to its temerity and its powers. 



It is not easy to understand why anybody should seek 
to "remove" or otherwise disturb Governor Stephens. 
Whv waste dynamite on an amiable, colorless, unco 
guid man when there are so many political and social 
pests who might be put out of the way to the public 
advantage and no doubt to their own relief? It is 
hardlv conceivable that Governor Stephens has offended 
anybody, friend or foe, by anything he has ever done or 
left undone. The only reasonable theory for attempts 



January 5, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



against his life and for hysterical threats to the same 
end is that they are designed in friendship and in pro- 
motion of his candidacy for reeled ion. As yet the job 
is only half done, but another bomb or two will so 
establish the governor as a martyr and a hero and so 
stir emotional sympathies in his behalf as to put Messrs. 
Xeylan, Rolph, Heney, Richardson, and all other am- 
bitious political climbers out of the running. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



In re Neylan. 
San Francisco, January 2, 1918. 

To the Editor — Sir: Poor, deserted, unhappy state! John 
F. Neylan has resigned — again ! 

The reason for the first resignation, he said, was to resume 
the practice of the law. Formerly he had been a newspaper re- 
porter. In all of the high-piled tomes of the chronicled doings 
and misdoings of politicians in California no precedent for 
such political self-decapitation is to be found. It stands alone. 
And he stands alone, the solitary instance of a politician to 
the manner-born, so to speak, who, voluntarily surrendering 
his comfortable seat nigh unto the boiling fleshpots, and with 
an attitude of fine disdain toward the otium cum dig., etc. — 
solely of lofty motives, of self-abnegation — has upreared him- 
self and resolutely backed away from the comfortable sur- 
roundings, the pleasurable temptations and exhilarating in- 
fluences of an income of $5000 per to "resume" the net 
income of a "practice" which, for some while at least, must 
be nil. The "regulars" beheld that heroic act of self-immola- 
tion with white faces and trembling knees ; even the frivolous- 
minded gaped in wonder. To be sure, a busy whisper went 
circling round to the effect that the erstwhile job-holder had 
received a polite intimation that it would be better that he 
shake the dust of the capital from his feet and seek another 
habitat where his political exigencies, or affiliations, or both, 
would be better accommodated. And, as that gossip increased, 
it was pointed out that Arnold's machinations to betray the 
fortress on the Hudson had been discovered and seized none 
too soon. 

The fateful days ran on. And that gossip persisted and 
spread wider and wider. Moreover, he developed a dreadful 
affliction — an incurable case of cacoethes carpendi. Anon 
rumor also came tiptoeing along the corridors hinting that 
the toe of the executive boot would soon be seen in action. 
Then Neylan resigned, again, in a wordy huff nearly two 
columns long. 

Poor, deserted, unhappy state ! On what uncertain mortal 
thread did thy timid hopes depend! In thy time of need to 
be abandoned to the everlasting bow-wows, innocuous desue- 
tude, or something worse, by thine own son ! Achilles wrath, 
to Greece, was nothing to it. He lost his girl indeed, but kept 
his job. But, with the sickening sense of loss still gripping 
the heart, how can one find adequate words ? The blow is 
almost as hard to endure as the winds old Boreas is now 
sending adown the shivering land. Nor is that all. An awful 
suspicion is obtruding that that cantankerous old cantanker- 
rorum, Jupiter Pluvius, has noted the defection and joined 
in the boycott. How else can old Jupe's seeming attitude of 
"I'll stand in with you" be explained? For, despite the 
prayers of the righteous — even the hopes of sinners — he has 
refused and still refuses, as lawyers say, to tip the spout of 
his sprinkling-pot over the thirsty land, and the starving cattle 
bawl on the grassless hills. "So disasters come not singly; 
but as if they watched and waited,- scanning one another's 
motions." Alack ! and alas ! 

Poor, deserted, hapless state, 

Shule, shule agra! 
Neylan's left thee to thy fate: 
Shule, shule agra! 

Nominis Umbra. 



Competition and "Restraint of Trade." 

San Francisco, January 2, 1918. 

To the Editor — Sir: Whether, as many publicists think, 
governmental control of the railroads is the first irretraceable 
step to governmental ownership of them, at least that step 
has curiously and convincingly demonstrated the folly of the 
government's past policy in dealing with those railroads. 
That policy has been to apply the Sherman Anti-Trust law to 
all of the great roads, to unmerge their mergers, upon the now- 
abandoned theory that railroad combinations were, in the lan- 
guage of that anti-trust act, "in restraint of trade." Restraint 
of trade, as theretofore understood in the law, meant com- 
binations which suppressed, injured, and ultimately destroyed 
weaker competitors. How a railroad combination which 
gathered in these weaker competitors, strengthened and re- 
financed them and made them an efficient operative part of 
the system, could be held to be a restraint of trade never was 
explained in the prevailing opinions of the Supreme Court of 
the United States, and the "restraint of trade" doctrine met 
with vigorous opposition in the dissenting opinions. How, 
moreover, railroads whose charges for transportation, whether 
in combination or out of combination, were all subject to 
exact regulation and were adjusted with scrupulosity, could 
be held by reason of combination to be robbing the people 
under such regulated tariffs was also never explained by the 
Supreme Court of the United States. 

The most significant fact underlying the presidential order, 
then, is its declaration of an abandonment of the principle 
that "competition is the life of trade" and a recognition of 
that for which the railroads themselves always contended, 
that only in combination could operative expenses be reduced, 
efficiency increased, and tariff rates be made reasonable. The 
executive order of the President declares this to be true to 
the widest extent, since it merges all railroads in one vast 
combination. J. C. M. 

♦ 

Distinctly Pertinent. 
Camp Funston, Kan., December 29, 1917. 

To the Editor — Sir: In these days of epidemic hysteria 
the Argonaut more than ever appeals to me by reason of its 
saneness and soundness and the dignity of its refusal to "slop 
over." The Argonaut furthermore shows a certain accuracy 
of knowledge of the workings of the American army which, 
to any one who has worn the blue or khaki for more than 
thirty years, is refreshing, especially to him who in an occa- 
sional period of ultra ennui allows himself to read the mili- 
tary misinformation appearing in the average daily news- 
paper. 

The affection of the American public for those who in 
this national emergency are wearing its uniform is daily 
demonstrated. The pay of the enlisted man is doubled, his 
family is generously provided for during the period of his 
service ; opportunity for cheap insurance is offered him; his 
morals are carefully guarded. A screen is erected between 
him and all temptation. He has woollen socks which he may 
use as sweaters and sweaters which he may use as socks. If 



at Thanksgiving or Christmas he fails, either at home or in 
France, to receive the turkey and cranberry sauce which 
every American patriot should have, a shudder may be felt 
and a sob may be heard throughout the land. All of which 
is very edifying and beautiful. 

Why is it, however, that the solicitude of the American 
people fails to be stirred in the direction of justice toward 
the long-suffering officer? Is he not a participant in the na- 
tional emergency? If the enlisted man's pay is doubled, why 
should the officer's pay remain the same? If the officer's 
pay does not remain the same, why is it cut down? While 
the officer is serving in the field at home or in Europe, why 
is he denied the privilege of having his household property 
stored in a public warehouse on a .government reservation ? 
When no public quarters are available, why is he deprived 
of his right to commutation of quarters? Why does he for- 
feit his right to be provided with heat and light or commuta- 
tion therefore at government expense ? Army officers as well 
as enlisted men may have families dependent upon them for 
support ; the national emergency makes no discrimination be- 
tween officers and men. 

Not only is the officer deprived of these allowances to 
which he is or should be entitled, but also is he required to 
pay income taxes and other taxes and at the same time stand 
ready to make the same sacrifice of his life with the enlisted 
man. Whether consistency be a jewel or the virtue of fools, 
the real question is: Does the American people wish to be 
consistent in these things in our army today ? 

The opinion of the writer is that the average civilian 
American of intelligence and education is utterly ignorant as 
to the discriminations which are made by our lawmakers. In 
the writer's travels he finds that when the average citizen 
asks questions and learns the truth as to military' matters he 
invariably shows both surprise and indignation. 

In the interests of fair play will the Argonaut permit some 
of the truth to appear in the light? T. G. H. 



A Word of Appreciation. 

Philadelphia, Pa., December 27, 1917. 
To the Editor — Sir: I can not renew my subscription to 
the Argonaut without expressing my high appreciation of it. 
Its editorials are so sane as to appeal to any intelligent mind, 
and the utter absence of humbug is so unusual as to call for 
the highest commendation. Gratefully yours, 

Francis A. Lewis. 



Appreciation. 
The Argonaut has received the following letter from a little 
French girl, orphaned by the war, to whom aid was given 
through its agency : 

JJVuM. It- & AzaimJL Wi 

he, MmA -imt kauAeuAi (k 'irou 
oicnv Out, irxavHun VwrJc fk \£czvWl 

iU Irtrbdl. JU1AA. 

JuQaue , dl Ai> hvri, r irt>uA WM 
AiftMmtty -ii wwmtru a. ynd , -p vn& 
JjmA aim. devm dt VouA jwJkA. -U/n peuu 
de. "Wul vii. ci tcoueke,, 
lUrbii ecok a, dnn aaaub', atfuui fa -u*iwt 
0/ ocbto, je. Miii &n (UiaJMt4ri£ cLae-, -Jk 
7VL 'ajuJLcuu OlXuamX Cjul jt ft jWU/L jwm, 
TrLtAiMk. vtrbie, tiMMt el me. -ynxttJ^M, 
Ciant, "de Vti iwnhdi, 

npjJtA, lb ^Mt/WhiA <W- en, aM VeUJ 

ll&ui imU OMeMcKi lIuLtnoM, tl 

Ir-dlMa tidjfachma: (l 'UMTnnfljiMamii oe 

Ito-foe- -pUdk, -jvio-Ua/k, ■ 

ciWJrU J cryJbcmmjJUis 



France waited until the sixteenth century, Germany 
and Italy until the nineteenth century, to attain even 
formal territorial unity by bringing under one govern- 
ment all the territory which those nations now possess. 



THE THEATRE OF WAR. 



We are still awaiting the German offensive on the western 
front, but it may be said with some confidence that the proba- 
bilities of such a move are waning fast. Military commanders 
are not in the habit of announcing their intentions, and when 
they seem to do so we may assume that they are bent on con- 
cealment rather than revelation. Germany is well aware from 
bitter experience that she can win nothing in the west ex- 
cept at a price that she can not afford to pay, and while she 
will naturally be watchful for such opportunities, real or sup- 
posed, as the fortunes of war may bring her, she is not likely 
to make any extraordinary efforts in France or Flanders un- 
less she is absolutely driven thereto by desperation. The Ger- 
man government was well aware that peace proposals were 
actually pending at the very' moment when it was sounding 
its hectoring threats of an attack in the west. Obviously 
those threats were intended to conceal the fact that the peace 
proposals were equivalent to the hoisting of the white flag. 
For it is actually the white flag that we see. 



The only western fighting during the week was at Verdun, 
where the Germans brought a powerful attack which was re- 
pulsed with heavy losses, and which gained them nothing. 
The renewed assault upon Verdun may have been due to a 
belief that the defenses had been weakened in order to fur- 
nish reinforcements for Italy. Eut it was more probably due 
to a continuing recognition on the part of Germany that Ver- 
dun in French hands is a perpetual threat to her own frontier, 
and that any contemplated invasion of Germany must have 
Verdun for its base. This was certainly the explanation of 
the prolonged siege to which Verdun was originally subjected, 
and we may readily suppose that the arrival of the Americans 
has once more brought the invasion of Germany within the 
range of probabilities. A glance at the map shows Verdun 
as lying directly on the road that leads over the frontier into 
Germany. It would be the natural point of departure and 
supply for an invading army. Verdun in German hands would 
mean the safety of the German frontier. But Verdun in 
French hands is a perpetual threat to the German frontier. 
And that threat grows greater as the American army becomes 
an ever more substantial fact. But the failure of the last 
German attack on Verdun can hardly be considered as a 
propitious omen for the general offensive that is supposed to 
be pending. 

The net result of the fighting on the northern frontier of 
Italy has been some small Teuton gains, but they were not 
of a kind to justify apprehensions for the safety of the 
Venetian plains, or of the Italian army. It may be said again 
that we can not consider the danger to have passed so long 
as the Teutons are continuing their efforts. They would cease 
their advance if its futility were evident. But their hopes 
must be dwindling fast as the weather increases the difficulty 
of their operations. When the heavy snowfalls and the winter 
storms begin in earnest there can be no further fighting in 
the Trentino Mountains, nor can the Teuton forces maintain 
their positions there. They can not be munitioned and sup- 
plied through passes and mountain roads that are deep in 
snow, nor will they be able to withdraw their artillery' after 
real winter conditions have set in. The winter is said to be 
some nine weeks late, but the most recent reports show it to 
have actually begun, and in this case we may expect a speedy- 
cessation of the fighting in the Trentino. It is always to be 
remembered that Italy's defense of her northern mountain line 
running west and east from Asiago to Mount Grappa is in- 
tended to maintain her command of the Brenta River Valley, 
which is practically the only route that can be followed by an 
army intent on the invasion of the Venetian plains. This 
valley is now dominated by the Italian artillery" on the moun- 
tain heights to the west and east, and therefore the German 
attacks are directed against these artillery positions. So long 
as they remain in the possession of the Italians there can be 
no descent by the Germans of the Brenta River Valley, and 
it may be well also to repeat that the Italian defense of the 
Piave River positions depends upon the successful defense 
of the northern mountain line. If this should give way it 
would be necessary at once to evacuate the Piave line, which 
would then be outflanked and taken at the rear. For this 
reason we see a concentration of the Teuton efforts against 
the mountain line rather than against the Piave. But if the 
Teutons should finally fail in the Trentino we may expect to 
see them begin a new concentration against the Piave, but by 
that time the river would be much swollen, and the difficulties 
of such an attack would be largely increased. We may now 
safely assume that the odds are much in favor of the Italians, 
and this assumption is strongly sustained by the peace pro- 
posals put forward by Count Czernin. If Germany had be- 
lieved that she was on the eve of a great triumph in Italy she 
would certainly have awaited its consummation in order that 
she might the more plausibly assume her favorite role of 
magnanimity. That she did not wait for some sort of a de- 
cision in Italy shows either that she despaired of attaining 
it, or that she feared it might even go definitely against her. 
And it is quite on the cards that her army in Italy may yet 
find itself in the most serious difficulties. 



The disposition of the German forces that are supposed to 
have been withdrawn from her eastern lines is still considered 
by many to prove the reality of a new danger in the west. 
There can be no question that considerable numbers of men 
have actually been withdrawn from the east — the Bolsheviki 
themselves complain of it, or pretend to — but we may remem- 
ber first that the process of withdrawal is a slow : 
one, and secondly that we have no positive 1 
destination. Vague statements that various 



4 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 5, 1918. 



have been identified on the western front should count for 
little. The same statements might have been made truthfully 
at almost any time of the war. There has always been a 
process of exchange from east to west, and Germany is known 
to have used the eastern field as a sort of sanatorium for 
her troops that were broken by the hardships of the western 
lines. We have still to find any authoritative statement that 
the German lines in France and Flanders have been heavily 
reinforced. On the other hand we know that the Teuton 
armies fighting against Italy are made up largely of men re- 
leased from the eastern front. We are told also that the 
Bulgarians are being reinforced from the same source, and 
now comes news that the army of Von Falkenhayn to the 
north of Jerusalem has similarly been strengthened by troops 
withdrawn from the Russian lines. There is also supposed 
to be an army at Aleppo under Von Mackensen intended to 
block the way of the British who are moving northwest from 
Bagdad, and we may suppose that this also has been strength- 
ened. That Germany has actually denuded her eastern lines 
is impossible. She would never be so foolish as to do that 
in full view of the chaos in Russian affairs. Indeed we may 
be sure that she has retained sufficient men for any possible 
eventuality-, and that means a very large number, 



difficult and dangerous. Its flanks would have no support, and 
its right flank in particular would be constantly exposed to 
attack. It could hardly expect to reach Nish, and to cut the 
railroad line in the face of the natural obstacles that would 
confront it in addition to the military- dangers. At the same 
time it is not likely that the Saloniki army will be withdrawn. 
Its career has not exactly been a glorious one, but at the 
same time it has saved Greece from the fate of Serbia and 
Roumania, and in a very real sense it may be said to be 
covering the operations of Allenby at Jerusalem, since but 
for its presence the Greek waters would be swarming with 
German submarines, and every Greek island would be a ren- 
dezvous for them. If Germany is meditating a stroke that 
would have some reasonable chance of success, and that would 
add to the stock of diminutive scalps now hanging at her belt, 
she is probably looking in the direction of Palestine and 
Greece, and as a significant fact we know that she is actually 
sending men in those directions. And we do not know with 
any certainty that she is sending men in numbers anywhere 
else. 



OLD FAVORITES. 



But is Germany intending to strike at all, and, if so, does such 

There a stroke take precedence of her peace plans. I believe strongly 

seems, therefore, to be little difficulty in accounting for all that her P^ ce P lans come first - that she has a r eal hope, and 

the men that Germany was previously employing on her | even an expectation, that Count Czemin's proposals may end 

eastern lines, without resorting to the unsustained theory of 



large new armies prepared to throw themselves in a devas- 
tating flood upon the French and the British. 



the war. and that whatever she may do with her armies will 
be less in the hope of winning honest military victories than 
; in furnishing to her enemies a new motive of terror to end 
the struggle. That she should propose the status quo ante 
is certainly an arresting fact, since it compels her to face the 
Whatever unemployed forces may now be at the disposal rage of her own fire-eaters and pan-Germans, who have al- 
of Germany will naturally be used wherever they can be of ready incorporated Belgium in the map of Germany, and who 
most service, and this seems to be in the east and in Italy in their fevered imagination see Mittel Europa as an estab- 
rather than in the west. Germany has always preferred to lished fact, with Asia Minor as its. appendage. Indeed that 
strike at weak points rather than at strong ones, and this rage is already finding expression in the pan-German news- 
has been particularly true during the last year, when it has papers, some of whom are almost inarticulate in their fun-, 
been increasingly necessary to sustain the hopes of her people That these peace proposals cover some dark and sinister mili- 
by flamboyant bulletins. Moreover, the east is more acces- tary scheme I do not believe. There is no reason to doubt 
sible to whatever troops she may be able to spare from the that they have a certain stupid sincerity about them. I be- 
Russian front, and so already we find that Von Falkenhayn lieve Germany is resolved to end the war now, if such an 
makes a great although unsuccessful effort !<• recover Jerusa- object can by any possibility be achieved. I believe that she 
iem, which seems to have been taken from him unexpectedly, must end the war. or face revolution at home from a people 
seeing that workmen were actually installing electric lights in rendered desperate from starvation. Vortoaeris has the 
his headquarters the day before the city felL It is to be courage to tell the government that there are forty million 
remembered that Asia Minor is Germany's most sensitive people who are not merely hungry, but starving, and that at 
point, a fact that we are apt to forget in our greater intimacy any moment these people may raise their hands in destructive 
with Belgium and France. It was over the Bagdad railroad rage and bring the social fabric to the ground. Even the best- 
that she intended to pass to the conquest of the world. In- informed opinion of those who believe that Germany will not 
deed she may be said to have gone to war for no other imme- revolt during the war has very little value, since such a situa- 
diate purpose than to secure her right-of-way to the Persian tion as this has no precedent in human history- At least it 
Gulf and to Egypt, and to dominate Serbia, whose continued can have no greater value than the opinion of the acting 
independence was a threat to her whole plan. Whatever editor of Voruraerts (Liebknecht himself is in prison), who is 
hopes she may have developed with regard to Belgium were apparently willing to risk his own freedom in its expression, 
merely incidental and opportunist in comparison with her It is to be remembered that the collapse of Russia is by no 
eastern policies, which were basic and fundamental. She be- means an unmixed blessing to Germany. Indeed she may 
Ueved that she could assign to the Turks not only the defense easily be regarding it as a curse. If it has liberated her 
of Asia Minor and the terminus of the railroad, but also the own armies it has also liberated a spirit of revolt that is 
invasion of Egypt, and she now finds to her dismay that the certainly exercising its fell contagion across her frontiers- 
Turks are inadequate either to the one task or the other, What must be the effect in Germany of such an object lesson 
and that their German officers are more of an irritation than in the power of a nation to strike down its own government 
a help. This accounts for the eagerness with which Germany over night, and to liberate itself almost without a spasm 
seizes her opportunity to reinforce Von Falkenhayn, and prob- from the control of a military autocracy? Germany has 
ably also to strengthen her army at Aleppo. For it is these raised a Frankenstein monster in the shape of the Bolshevik! 
armies upon which depend her hopes of being the "man in at which she can not but look in horror. Within the last 
possession" of all the territories actually essential to her am- Iew days we have read of the arrest of 300 German Inde- 
ntions, whenever the peace conference for which she is pendent Socialists, that is to say Socialists who refuse to 
yearning shall become an accomplished fact And so we are i follow the lead of Scheidemann and other "loyalists," and who 
brought once more to Count Czemin's peace terms, and the demand peace at any price. We have not before heard of 
proposed restoration of a status quo that shall surrender Bel- these Independent Socialists, and who can doubt that they 



The Sands of Dee. 
"O Mary, go and call the cattle home. — 

And call the cattle home. 

And call the cattle home 

Across the sands o' Dee!" 
The western wind was wild and dank wi" foam. 

And all alone went she. 

The creeping tide came up along the sand, 

And o'er and o'er the sand, 

And round and round the sand. 

As far as eye could see ; 
The blinding mist came down and hid the land — 

And never home came she. 

"Oh, is it weed or fish or floating hair — 

A tress o' golden hair, 

O' drowned maiden's hair, 

Above the nets, at sea? 
Was never salmon yet that shone so fair 

Across the stakes on Dee." 

They row'd her in across the rolling foam, 

The cruel crawling foam, 

The cruel hungry foam, 

To her grave beside the sea : 
But still the boatmen hear her call the cattle home 

Across the sands o' Dee. — Charles Kingsley. 



Out Where the West Begins. 
Out where the handclasp's a little stronger, 
Out where the smile dwells a little longer, 

That's where the West begins ; 
Out where the sun is a litle brighter. 
Where the snows that fall are a trifle whiter. 
Where the bonds of home are a wee bit tighter. 

That's where the West begins. 

Out where the skies are a trifle bluer, 
Out where friendship's a little truer, 

That's where the West begins; 
Out where a fresher breeze is blowing. 
Where there's laughter in every' streamlet flowing. 
Where there's more of reaping and less of sowing, 

That's where the West begins. 

Out where the world is in the making, 
Where fewer hearts in despair are aching, 

That's where the West begins ; 
Where there's more of singing and less of sighing, 
Where there's more of giving and less of buying. 
And a man makes friends without half trying- 

That's where the West begins. — Arthur Chapman. 



gium to the Belgians in return for the restoration of Asia 
Minor to the Turks — that is to say to the Germans them- 
selves. It need hardly be said that Germany would consider 
no price an excessive one that gave into her hands the termi- 
nus of the railroad on the Persian Gulf, and the occupation 
of the Sinai Peninsula. In her heart of hearts she has always 
known that she could not hold Belgium, but by sturdily 
asserting her intention to do so she thereby raises the value of 
its renunciation as a quid pro quo for the maintenance of 
her hold on Asia Minor, which is the only thing that she 
actually cares for. And if the end of the war and the peace 
conference should see her in military occupation of Asia 
Minor her case would naturally be all the stronger. By 
throwing whatever new armies she may possess in this direc- 
tion rather than toward the west she is therefore serving her 
most essential policies, and she is also choosing the only 
battleground that offers her any real hopes of success. Tnose 
hopes are slim enough, but at least they are more substantial 
than anything offered on the western lines that were long ago 
hammered into impregnability. 



Germany's Oriental dominion is threatened alike by the 
British armies in Asia Minor and by the Allied armies at 
Saloniki. She has already struck heavily against General 
Allenby at Jerusalem, and she is likely to make a similar 
effort against Saloniki, although she probably regards the 
southern field as the more important of the two. The British 
armies at Jerusalem and to the north of Bagdad are actually- 
advancing, and are therefore gnawing at the heart of Ger- 
many's vital ambitions. But the Saloniki army is not ad- 
vancing, md is hardly likely to. None the less its presence 
is a protection to Greece — now a belligerent — and to some 
extent n is a threat against the railroad that runs through 
Serbia, and then passes eastward through Bulgaria 
\ -key. The Saloniki army will certainly not advance 
c izelos shall be fully satisfied of the morale of the 
: army, and even then a forward movement seems to be 



are the offsping of the Russian revolution ? The municipal 
election at Leipzig discloses the fact that 50 per cent, of the 
electorate voted for the Socialist peace-at-any -price candidates, 
and that the Socialists as a whole secured 78 per cent of the 
votes. It would be hard to exaggerate the importance of these 
things. They weigh more heavily than the numbers and the 
efficiency of the German army. They fully explain the white 
flag that Germany has raised. For it is a white flag, how- 
ever small a one, and however much obscured by whirlwind 
threats of which no one takes any notice. And there are 
other white flags, larger ones, to come in the immediate fu- 
ture. Germany has yet to learn that her enemies are not in 
the least afraid nor dismayed, and that as they are not fight- 
ing for material things so they can not be bribed by material 
things. And when she next addresses herself to the question 
of compensation for the ruin that she has done, she might at 
the same time formulate some statement of the compensation 
that she considers adequate for living babies carried on the 
points of German bayonets, for soldiers crucified and muti- 
lated, for women dishonored, and for the crowded slaughter 
pits of Serbia and Poland. These things seem hardly to 
admit of financial adjustment Sidney Coryn. 

San Francisco, January 2, 1918. 



According to modern historical researches, music was 
first cultivated in Egypt. No vestige of primitive 
Egyptian music now exists. All our present-day in- 
formation comes from pictorial and sculptoral repre- 
sentations of instruments and players and a few instru- 
ments exhumed in cities buried under the sand of cen- 
turies. 



K is a more important symbol in the Russian Ian 
guage than in English, but even so the predominance 



The Call of the Wild. 
Have you gazed on naked grandeur where there's nothing 
else to gaze on, 
Set pieces and drop-curtain scenes galore, 
Big mountains heaved to heaven, which the blinding sunsets 
blazon, 
Black canons where the rapids rip and roar ? 
Have you swept the visioned valley with the green, stream 
streaking through it, 
Searched the Vastness for a something you have lost ? 
Have you strung your soul to silence? Then for God's sake 
go and do it; 
Hear the challenge, learn the lesson, pay the cost 

Have you wandered in the wilderness, the sage-brush desola- 
tion, 
The bunch-grass levels where the cattle graze ? 
Have you whistled bits of rag-time at the end of all creation. 

And learned to know the desert's little ways? 
Have you camped upon the foothills, have you galloped o'er 
the ranges, 
Hove you roamed the arid sun-lands through and through? 
Have you chummed up with the mesa ? Do you know its 
moods and changes? 
Then listen to the wild — it's calling you. 

Have you known the Great White Silence, not a snow-gemmed 
twig aquiver? 
(Eternal truths that shame our soothing lies.) 
Have you broken trail on snowshoes? mushed your huskies 
up the river, 
Dared the unknown, led the way, and clutched the prize? 
Have you marked the map's void spaces, mingled with the 
mongrel races, 
Felt the savage strength of brute in every' thew? 
And though grim as hell the worst is, can you round it off 
with curses? 
Then hearken to the Wild — it's wanting you. 

Have you suffered, starved and triumphed, groveled down, 
yet grasped at glory, 
Grown bigger in the bigness of the whole? 
"Done things" just for the doing, letting babblers tell the 
story, 
Seeing through the nice veneer the naked soul ? 
Have you seen God in His splendors, heard the text that 
nature renders ? 
(You'll never hear it in the family pew.) 
The simple things, the true things, the silent men who do 
things — 
Then listen to the Wild 1 — it's calling you. 

They have cradled you in custom, they have primed you 
with their preaching, 
They have soaked you in convention through and through ; 
They have put you in a showcase ; you're a credit to their 
teaching — 
But can't you hear the Wild? — it's calling you. 
Let us probe the silent places, let us seek what luck betide us ; 

Let us journey to a lonely land I know. 
There's a whisper on the night-wind, there's a star agleam to 
guide us, 
And the wild is calling, calling . . . let us go. 

— Robert W. Service. 



Sweden does not want Finland, according to Dr. 
Fridtjof Xansen. The whole culture and civilization 
of Finland has so completely changed since it was taken 
by Russia in 1809. it has become such a hotbed of so- 
cialism and so entirely Finnish rather than Swedish, 
that Sweden would not want it back under the circum- 



of the letter in the crisis has been remarkable. Keren- I stances. Sweden would like to see Finland independent 
sky-. Korniloff. Klembovsky, Kaledin, Krimoft", Korot- of Russia, thus serving as a buffer state between 
koff, and Kishkine have all played principal roles. I Sweden and Russia. 



January 5, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



DR. VAN DYKE ON THE WAR. 



The Former American Minister to Holland Talks of the 
Causes and the Issues. 



Uniting personal reminiscences and diplomatic mem- 
ories with a most charming literary style, Dr. Henry 
Van Dyke, former American minister to Holland, has 
given us a book on the war which may perhaps be 
regarded as the one sufficient utterance for those who 
can afford to have one and only one war volume on 
their shelves. 

Dr. Van Dyke, a professorial associate at Prince- 
ton of Woodrow Wilson, went to The Hague in the 
summer of 1913, especially charged by the President 
"to promote the great work of peace which had been 
begun by the International Peace Conference at The 
Hague." 

'"For that cause," he says in his opening chapter, "I 
worked and strove. Of that cause I am still a devoted 
follower and servant. I am working for it now, but 
with a difference." He continues : 

During the first winter everything went smoothly ; there 
was no hurry and no crowding. The queen came back to her 
town palace. The rounds of ceremonial visits were ground 
out. The Hague people and our diplomatic colleagues were 
most cordial and friendly. There were dinners and dances 
and court receptions and fancy-dress balls — all of a discreet 
and moderate joyousness which New York and Newport, per- 
haps even Chicago and Hot Springs, would have called tame 
and rustic. The weather, for the first time in several years, 
was clear, cold, and full of sunshine. The canals were frozen, 
Everybody, from grandparents to grandchildren, including the 
Crown Princess Juliana, went on skates, which greatly added 
to the gayety of the nation. . . . 

The international sky was clear except for the one big 
cloud, which had been there so long that the world had grown 
used to it. The great powers kept up the mad race of arma- 
ments, purchasing mutual terror at the price of billions of 
dollars every year. 

Now the pace was quickened, but the race remained the 
same, with Germany still in the lead. Her new army bill 
of 1912 provided for a peace strength of 870,000 men and a 
war strength of 5,400,000 men. Russia followed with a bill 
raising the term of military service from three to three and 
a half years ; France with a bill raising the term of service 
from two to three years (but this was not until in June, 
1913). Great Britain, with voluntary* service, still had a com- 
paratively small army : in size "contemptible," as Kaiser Wil- 
he!m called it later, but in morale and spirit unsurpassed. 
Evidently the military force of Germany, which lay like a 
glittering sword in her ruler's hand, was larger, better or- 
ganized and equipped, than any other in the world. 

But might it not still be used as a make-weight in the scales 
of negotiation rather than as a weapon of actual offense? 
Might not the Kaiser still be pleased with his dramatic role 
of "the war lord who kept the peace" ? Might he not do again 
as he did successfully in 1909, when Austria violated the 
provisions of the Congress of Berlin (187S) by annexing 
Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Germany protected the theft ; 
and with partial success at Algeciras in 1906, and after the 
Agadir incident in 1911, when Germany gained something she 
wanted though less than she claimed? Might he not still 
be content with showing and shaking the sword, without flesh- 
ing it in the body of Europe ? It seemed wiser, because safer 
for Germany, that the Kaiser should follow that line. The 
methodical madness of a forced war looked incredible. 

Thus in a comparatively few words Dr. Van Dyke 
pictures the whole world situation immediately prior to 
the catastrophe of August, 1914. Holland, like all the 
rest of the world, pursuing leisurely and happily its 
native pastimes, and the sky all clear save for the '"one 
big cloud." "Might not the master of militarism still 
be content with showing and shaking the sword?" 

But that way was not included in the German plan. It 
was remote from the Berlin-Baghdad-Bahn. It did not lead 
toward a dominant imperial state of Mittel-Europa, with 
tentacles reaching out to ports on every sea and strait. 
The plan for another Hague conference failed to interest 
the ruling clique at Berlin and Potsdam because they had 
made "other arrangements." 

Very gradually slight indications of this fact began to ap- 
pear, though they were not clearly understood at the time. 
It was like watching a stage-curtain which rises very slowly 
a little way and then stops. Through the crack one could see 
feet moving about and hear rumbling noises. Evidently a 
drama was in preparation. But what it was to be could 
hardly be guessed. Then, after a long wait, the curtain rose 
swiftly. The tragedy was revealed. Flames burst forth from 
the stage and wrapped the whole house in fire. Some of 
the spectators were the first victims. The conflagration still 
rages. It will not be put out until the flame-lust is smothered 
in the hearts of those who kindled and spread the great fire 
in Europe. 

Dr. Van Dyke recounts ''the strange difficulties en- 
countered in making the preliminary arrangements for 
the third peace conference," and the fact that "push as 
hard as we would, there was no plan which would 
move beyond a certain point." Washington and The 
Hague were "earnest and enthusiastic." St. Peters- 
burg was "warmly interested." London and Paris 
"seemed favorable to the general idea." But Berlin 
was "singularly reserved and vague." 

The situation remained "puzzling, baffling, mysteri- 
ous" until the minister, in the course of his duties, 
visited the neutral duchy of Luxemburg, to which he 
was also accredited: 

It was in February or early in March, 1914, that the Grand 
Duchess sent out an invitation to the Diplomatic Corps to at- 
tend a court function. We all went gladly because of the 
pleasantness of the land and the good hospitality of the 
palace. There were separate audiences with her royal high- 
ness in the morning, a big luncheon given by the cabinet and 
the city authorities at noon, a state dinner in the old Spanish 
palace at night, and after that a gala concert. It was then 
that the incident occurred. I had heard in the town that 
thirty military officers from the German garrison at Trier, a 
few miles away on the border, were coming, invited or self- 
invited, to the concert, and the Luxemburgers did not like 
the idea at all. Well, the Germans came in a body, some of 
them courteous and affable, the others stiff, wooden, high- 



chinned, and staring — distinctly a foreign group. They were 
tactless enough to propose staying over the next day. A big 
crowd of excited Luxemburgers filled the streets in the 
morning and gave every sign of extreme dissatisfaction. 
"What were these Prussian soldiers doing there? Had they 
come to spy out the land and the city in preparation for an 
invasion? Was there a stray prince or duke among them 
who wanted to marry- the Grand Duchess ? The music was 
over. These Kriegs-Herren had better go home at once — 
at once, did they understand ?" Yes, they understood, and 
they went by the next train, which took them to Trier in 
an hour. 

It was a very trivial affair. But it seemed to throw some 
light on the mentality of the German army. 

In the Pentecostal season in June, 1914. Dr. Van 
Dyke again made a journey to Luxemburg, and while 
riding in company with the Dutch prime minister and 
the French and German diplomatic ministers heard one 
remark which "has stuck in my memory ever since." 
He observes: 

Mr. Eyschen said to me: "You have heard of the famous 
'LuxemburgerLoch' ? It is the easiest military" road between 
German}' and France." Then he continued with great good 
humor to the two gentlemen at the ends of the table : "Per- 
haps one of your two countries may march an army through 
it before long, and we certainly can not stop you." Then he 
turned to Herr von B., still smiling: "Most likely it will be 
your country, Excellent! But please remember, for the last 
ten years we have made our mining concessions and con- 
tracts so that they will hold, whatever happens. And we 
have spent the greatest part of our national income on our 
roads. You can't roll them up and carry- them off in your 
pocket !" Of course we all laughed, but it was serious. 
Two months later the French minister had to make a quick 

nd quiet flight along one of those very' roads. 

Another incident of this trip was the inexplicable 
passing through Luxemburg of thousands of German 
soldiers toward Trier, the place whence, two months 
later, the ruthless Teuton armies swept into France 
and Belgium: 



he was assisted most generously by Dutch bankers, and 
at one time became so bold as to place the endorse- 
ment of the United States government on the traveler's 
credits. Dr. Van Dyke adds : 

I never had any idea, before the war broke out, how many 
of our countrymen and countrywomen there are roaming 
about Europe every- summer, and with what a cheerful trust 
in Providence and utter disregard of needful papers and 
precautions some of them roam ! There were young women 
traveling alone or in groups of two or three. There were old 
men so feeble that one's first thought on seeing them was: 
"How did you get away from your nurse?" There were 
people with superfluous funds, and people with barely enough 
funds, and people with no funds at all. There were college 
boys who had worked their way over and couldn't find a 
chance to work it back. There were art students and music 
students whose resources had given out- 
There was a very rich woman, plastered with diamonds, 
who demanded the free use of my garage for the storage of 
her automobile. When I explained that, to my profound 
regret, it was impossible, because three American guest cars 
were already stored there and the place could hold no more, 
she flounced out of the room in high dudgeon. 

One stranded American opera singer sought the min- 
ister's aid, received it, then sought to abuse it, and 
finally turned up some months afterward in the paid 
service of Berlin. J. F. J. Archibald, the American 
newspaper man who was arrested and sent home for 
attempting to smuggle German diplomatic correspond- 
ence through the British lines, also was among those 
who sought to abuse the ministers confidence, but 
failed. 

While the descriptions of the horrors of the Belgian 
invasion occupy but comparatively small space in the 
book, they are vivid and grim enough to be almost as 
much as one could care to place permanently upon one's 
library shelves. What is set down is from first-hand 
information, the story of an eye-witness, distinguished, 
neutral then, and credible. 

From the horrors the writer passes to a stirring 



All day long innumerable trains rolled southward along 
that line, and every' train was packed with soldiers in field- I 
gray—their cheerful, stolid bullet-heads stuck out of all the | chapter on Germama Mendax — a valuable and lllumi- 
windows. "Why so many soldiers," I asked, "and where are i nating survey of the documents and official utterances 
they all going?" "Ach !" replied my German companions, "it | an( ^ acts w hi cn demonstrate the falsity of Germany's 
is PUngstferien (Pentecost vacation), and they are sent a , - ,« , ,,• ■ • ., , * „ „ j 

changing of scene and air to get." My Luxemburg friends i claira * at ^IS war was born in Other brams or de- 
laughed. "Yes, yes," they said. "That is it. Trier has a ' livered from other motherhood than hers. I he whole 
splendid climate for soldiers. The situation is kolossal for story is here told, concisely, completely, convincingly. 



that!" 

When we passed through the hot and dusty little city it 
was simply swarming with the field-gray ones — thousands upon 
thousands of them — new barracks everywhere ; parks of artil- 
lery ; mountains of munitions and military stores. It was a 
veritable base of operations, ready for war. 

From this journey Dr. Van Dyke went home to The 
Hague "with the clear conviction that one nation in 
Europe was ready for war, and wanted war, and in- 
tended war on the first convenient opportunity. But 
when would that be? . . . The question was an- 
swered with dreadful suddenness." 

With great vividness, clearness, and official exactness 
Dr. Van Dyke then narrates the Serbian incident, the 
conspiracy to make the Austrian archduke's assassina- 
tion the excuse for the long-awaited war declarations, 
the rejection of arbitration, and the incontestable fact 
of the participation of Germany in shaping the actions 
of Austria. He remarks: 

The Barabbas of war was preferred to the Christ of 
righteous judgment. 

The hope of an enduring peace through justice receded 
and grew dim. We knew that it could not be rekindled until 
the ruthless military power of Germany, that had denied and 
rejected it, was defeated and brought to repentance. 

Thus those who loved true peace — peace with equal security 
for small and great nations, peace with law protecting the 
liberties of the people, peace with power to defend itself 
against assault — were forced to fight for it or give it up 
forever. 

With characteristic literary habit Dr. Van Dyke 
pauses in his narrative at this point long enough to 
give a very ingenious and impressive "Apologue" of 
the werwolf, "the Lord's anointed." who henceforth is 
at large against the world and its civilization: 

In the tumult and darkness which enfolded Europe the 
werwolf was at large. We could hear his ululations in the 
forest. The cries of his victims grew louder, piercing our 
hearts with pity and just wrath. 

Then follow recollections, alternately pathetic and 
humorous, heroic and tragic, of the first consequences 
of the German invasion of France and Belgium — the 
rush of refugees to the protection of the American 
minister and consuls: 

No one, except those who had the distracting privilege of 
being in the American diplomatic and consular service in 
the summer of 1914, knows how much work and how many 
kinds of work rushed down upon us in a moment. Banking, 
postal, and telegraphic service, transportation, hotel and 
boarding-house business, baggage express, the recovery of 
missing articles and persons, the reunion of curiously sepa- 
rated families, confidential inquiries, medical service (mainly 
mind-healing), and free consultation on every- subject under 
the sun — all these different occupations, trades, and profes- 
sions were not set down in our programme when we came 
to Europe, nor covered by the slim calf-bound volume of 
"Instructions to Diplomatic Officers" which was our only 
guide-book. But we had to learn them at short notice and 
practice them as best we could. No doubt we often acted in 
a way that was not strictly protocolaire. Certainly we made 
mistakes. But it was better to do that than to sit like bumps 
on a log doing nothing. The immediate affair in hand was to 
help our own folks who were in distress and difficulty and 
who wanted to get home as quickly and as safely as pos- 
sible. So we tried to do it, making use of the best means 
available, and praying that heaven and our diplomatic col- 
leagues would forgive any errors or gaffes that we might 
make. 

One of the greatest difficulties encountered by Dr. 
Van Dyke in handling the stranded Americans was in 
arranging the cashing of their letters of credit. In this 



Under the caption of "Stand Fast, Ye Free," Dr. 
Van Dyke tells the story of America's entrance into the 
war, its inevitability, its justification. He pays a fervid 
tribute to the "sagacity, patience, and devotion to 
pacific conceptions of progress" on the part of Presi- 
dent Wilson, and then summarizes some of the pro- 
voking causes which ultimately forced the President 
away from his pacifism : 

The list of crimes and atrocities ordered in this war by 
the mysterious and awful power that rules the German people 
— which I prefer to call, for the sake of brevity and imper- 
sonality, the Potsdam gang — is too long to be repeated here. 
The levying of unlawful tribute from captured cities and vil- 
lages ; the use of old men, women, and children as a screen 
for advancing troops ; the extortion of military information 
from civilians by cruel and barbarous methods ; the burning 
and destruction of entire towns as a punishment for the actual 
or suspected hostile deeds of individuals, and the brutal 
avowal that in this punishment it was necessary that "the 
innocent shall suffer with the guilty" (see the letter of Gen- 
eral von Nieber to the burgomaster of Wavre, August 27th, 
and the proclamation of Governor-General von der Goltz, 
September 2, 1914) ; the introduction of the use of as- 
phyxiating gas as a weapon of war (at Ypres, April 22, 
1915); the poisoning of wells; the reckless and needless de- 
struction of priceless monuments of art like the Cathedral of 
Rheims ; the deliberate and treacherous violation of the Red 
Cross, which is the sign of mercy and compassion for all 
Christendom; the bombardment of hospitals and the cold- 
blooded slaughter of nurses and wounded men; the sinking 
of hospital ships with their helpless and suffering company — 
all these and many other infamies committed by order of the 
Potsdam gang made the heart of America hot and angry 
against the power which devised and commanded such bru- 
tality. True, they were not, technically speaking, crimes 
directed against the United States. They did not injure our 
material interests. They injured only our souls and the world 
in which we have to live. They were vivid illustrations of 
the inward nature of that German Kultur whose superiority 
the German professors say, "is rooted in the unfathomable 
depths of its moral constitution." "Deutsche Reden in 
Schwerer Zeit," II, p. 23.) 

The German offenses against neutrality are described, 
incidents are given of the hopeless and willful obtuse- 
ness of the German officials to all other points of view 
than their own, and an account is offered of the at- 
tempt to place German spies in the minister's own 
household. The essential questions of international 
law are clearly illustrated. The unhappy position of 
the small neutrals, such as Holland and Scandinavia, 
is set forth sympathetically ; and, as a finale to this 
chapter, are some telling pictures of both England and 
France as transformed by the war during the first year 
of the struggle. 

Thus Dr. Van Dyke's book, fascinatingly written, 
covers the whole story of the war down to the time 
of America's declaration of hostilities, and becomes a 
most valuable addition to the shelves, especially of pri- 
vate libraries. 

Fighting for Peace. By Henry Van Dyke. New 
York: Charles Scribner's Sons; $1.25 net 



The latest school census in the Philippines shows 
that there are about 660.000 Filipino children attending 
school. For them there are 11.000 native teachers and 
500 American instructors. When the United States 
took hold of education in the Islands thi e 800 

American teachers. At first the Phi! 
assumed charge of the primary work, 
mediate, and now some are teaching in . 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 5, 1918. 



ESTABLISHED 1858 



SUTRO 



CO. 



Investment Brokers 

AND DEALERS IN HIGH GRADE 

SECURITIES 

YIELDING PROM 

4y 2 % to 7% 

DETAILED INFORMATION UPON REQUEST 
INQUIRIES INVITED 



410 Montgomerv St. 



S. F., Cal. 



BUSINESS NOTES. 

San Francisco's bank clearings for the week 
ending Saturday, December 29th, were $76,- 
744,190.10, as compared with clearings of 
$64,949,219.77 for the corresponding week in 
1916 and $48,808,741.73 for the correspond- 
ing week in 1915. 

An increase of $1,357,992,114 over 1916 is 



McDonnell & co. 

Members 
New York Stock Exchange 
New York Cotton Exchange 
San Francisco Stock aDd Bond 
Exchange 

MUNICIPAL BONDS 

Free from 
Income Tax 

To Yield 4 I / 2 t £ to 6% 

List on request 

242 MONTGOMERY STREET 

PALACE HOTEL FAIRMONT HOTEL 

Douglas 5234 



the record established by San Francisco bank 
clearings for 1917, the clearings for the year 
just ended having eclipsed both in amount of 
gain and ratio of increase all previous rec- 
ords. 

Clearing House statistics compiled at the 
close of business December 31st showed total 
clearings for the year of $4,837,854,596.20, as 
compared with $3,479,862,482.31 for 1916. A 
large percentage of the increase is accounted 



E. F. HUTTON & CO. 

Home Office, 61 Broadway 

Branches : 

WOOLWORTH BUILDING 

PLAZA HOTEL 

NEW YORK 



MEMBERS : 
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Liverpool Cotton Association 
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CALIFORNIA OFFICES: 

490 California Street 

St. Francis Hotel 

Bond Department, 343 Powell Street 

San Francisco 

First National Bank Building 

Oakland 

118 West Fourth Street 

Alexandria Hotel 

Los Angeles 

Hotel Maryland 

Pasadena 



Through Private Wire 
California Points to New York 



for, say Clearing House officials, by the clear- 
ance of checks drawn in payment of sub- 
scriptions to the two Liberty Loans, which 
swelled the volume of clearings to an un- 
precedented extent when installment payments 
were made for the bonds. 



"Jt is a simple matter to lay down rules 
for investment, but an exceedingly difficult 
matter to follow them sensibly and ration- 



Bond & Goodwin 


COMMERCIAL PAPER 


BONDS 


4-4 CALIFORNIA STREET 


SAN FRANCISCO 


''OS! .' CHICAGO SEATTLE 


EW YORK MINNEAPOLIS PHILADELPHIA 



ally." This is the view of Mr. Waldo New- 
comer, president of the National Exchange 
Bank of Baltimore and vice-president of the 
Atlantic Coast Line Company, which company 
owns a large amount of stock of the Atlantic 
Coast Line Railroad, which in turn owns 51 
per cent, of the capital stock of the Louisville 
and Nashville Railroad. 

"In making investments," Mr. Newcomer 
said in an article in the World's Work, "the 
chief things to be considered are safety of 
principal, rate of investment return, regu- 
larity of interest payment, and marketability. 
This order of their enumeration is entirely 
without reference to order of importance, for 
the relative importance of these considera- 
tions varies according to circumstances. If 
a person is depending upon a small salary and 
is investing out of small savings, safety of 
principal must outweigh everything else. If 
such a person is not really dependent on the 
income from the securities, but is regarding 
it purely as a savings fund, he can disre- 
gard the regularity of the interest, and en- 
deavor to secure a slightly greater return in 
the long run. He is also not particularly 
concerned with marketability. 

"If the purchaser is entirely dependent on 
an income from an investment, as in the case 
of a widow of small means investing the pro- 
ceeds of her late husband's life insurance, it 
becomes of great importance that the interest 
should come in regularly, and it may be that 
in order to receive an adequate return she 
will have to take some slight risk of the prin- 
cipal being always safe in the full amount. 
A man of wealth can frequently take a 'flyer' 
for a moderate amount, feeling that the high 
interest return justifies a certain speculative 
chance in the principal where he would not 
be seriously hurt if he should lose it. The 
widow should not take such a chance. 

"In investing for a banking institution, or 
when investing funds belonging to an indi- 
vidual who is likely to have sudden demands 
upon him for considerable amounts of money, 
it is frequently necessary to place the ques- 
tion of marketability somewhat higher in the 
list than the other considerations. Thus it is 
seen that the weight which should be given 
to the different points varies with the circum- 
stances surrounding the investment. The in- 
dividual should be sure he understands his 
own requirements before he invests. 

"Now, as I remarked at the outset, it is 
difficult to follow the principles laid down. 
Assume for a moment that one has deter- 
mined that he is going to require, first, abso- 
lute safety of principal ; second, regularity of 
interest return ; third, marketability, and pay 
very little attention to the amount of interest 
return. It now becomes the duty of the in- 
vestor to satisfy himself that the principal is 
absolutely safe. How is he to do that? Out- 
side of such extremely standard things as 
government bonds and municipals of the 
highest class, is there any way on earth that 
a man can be sure that the principal is safe 
over a long period of years? 

"A little consideration along this line will 
surely show that none of the principles out- 
lined above can be absolutely and positively 
settled by any one short of an expert, and 
frequently not by him. Under the best cir- 
cumstances, the real worth of investment, I 
believe, is determined to a great extent by 
two elements — hard common sense on the part 
of the investor, a quality which is possessed 
by comparatively few, and secondly by luck, 
which fails to strike a great many in an ac- 
ceptable manner." 

While the world war continues we must 
expect more or less instability in the values 
of securities. Fluctuations will occur as the 
result of the changing aspects of the conflict. 
Favorable news will tend to improve and un- 
favorable news to depress prices, and there 
may be occasional hysterical bursts of liqui- 
dation. This will be less noticeable in real 
estate and farm mortgages than in others. 

Since no one can be sure that the bonds 
we may buy today will not sell lower to- 
morrow, what rule of guidance should the 
man looking for bargains adopt? Mani- 
festly he should always convince himself that 
the earnings of the corporation whose issues 
he would buy afford a good margin of safety. 
There are many companies whose business is 
flourishing, and income increasing, or at least 
not seriously shrinking, and which in spite 
of high war taxes appear well able to main- 
tain dividends and to pay interest on bonds. 
They are likely to do this even in times of 
peace, though they may have been benefited 
largely by .war orders. The future of their 
bonds should, therefore, not be regarded with 
apprehension. Intrinsically their obligations 
are worth far more than the current quota- 
tions. Nobody can make a mistake in pur- 
chasing bonds whose present yield may be de- 
pended on whether the war lasts indefinitely 
or ceases soon. It is safe to buy such se- 
curities even if these may reach a lower 
level. 

The heavy decline in which all kinds of se- 
curities have shared has affected the better 
class of bonds least of all. They will fare 
best, too, in case of any coming set-back. 



With normal conditions restored, their price 
recovery will be certain and considerable, 
giving the holder a chance of speculation 
profit. 

Sutro & Co. announced recently that the 
trustees of the Calamba ,Siigar Estate had de- 
clared a dividend of 3J4 per cent, on the 
preferred stock of the corporation. It is an- 
nounced that this dividend is to be paid out 
of the surplus earnings for the period end- 
ing January 2, 1918. The dividend is payable 
on January 15th on stock of record January 
2, 1918. 

The journal of the American Bankers' As- 
sociation states that a great many manufac- 
turers and concerns with large pay-rolls have 
been so little impressed with the necessity 
for the mobilization and conservation of gold 
that they continue to pay their employees 
with it. It is not that their employees are 
particularly eager to have their pay in this 
form of money, but it is more convenient 
for the payer. Our contemporary also states 
that while the use of gold-coin counting ma- 
chines permits the making of pay-rolls with 
great ease and speed, the ease and speed 
comes at the cost of much abrasion of the 
metal, and is also an inducement to the people 
to hoard gold. The Federal Reserve Board 
has been giving attention to this matter, and 
the Federal Reserve Banks have been gather- 
ing particular information in regard to it. 
Some of the reserve banks have issued circu- 
lar letters urging that the considerations oi 
convenience be disregarded, and that the pay- 
ment of employees be made in other cur- 
rency. It is the view of the Federal Reserve 
Board, concurred in by the bankers who have 
given the closest study to the question, that 
bankers should discourage the use of gold for 
pay-roll purposes. 



Commercial Attache Erwin W. Thompson 
reports that the building of concrete boats 
has been progressing steadily in Norway and 
Sweden since the beginning of the war. Den- 
mark is now beginning this work, among 
other places at Sundby, a suburb of Copen- 
hagen, where a new concern headed by Mr. 
Bagger-Sorensen and Mr. Gleerup-Moller is 
about to begin operations with a capital of 
from $400,000 to $500,000. They intend to 
build ships up to 1000 tons. 



That the present coal shortage in the 
United States is due to causes other than 
lack of output by our mines is indicated by 
a compilation by the National City Bank of 
New York, which estimates our total output 
of 1917 as greater than in any earlier year 
and shows that the United States actually 
produces nearly 45 per cent, of the coal of 
the world. In I860 we were producing less 
than 10 per cent, of the world's coal output ; 
in 1870, 15 per cent.; in 1880, 21 per cent.; 
in 1890, 34 per cent.; in 1910, 43 per cent.; 
in 1916, 44 per cent., and the 1917 record 
when completed will probably show our share 
of the world's output fully 45 per cent. 

The coal production of the United States 
grew from less than a half-million short tons 
in 1830 to 2,000.000 tons in 1840, 15,000,000 
in 1860. 71.000,000 in 1880, 158,000.000 in 
1890, 2/0.000.000 in 1900, 502,000,000 in 
1910, 590,000,000 in 1916, and estimated at 
650,000,000 short tons in 1917. According to 
the bank's statement its coal supply far ex- 
ceeds that of any other country, her estimated 
supply being 3,527,000.000.000 short tons, 
against 180,000,000,000 in Great Britain, the 
next largest producer, and 164,000,000,000 in 
Germany, which ranks third as a coal pro- 
ducer. China's supply ranks next to that of 
the United States and is estimated at 1,500,- 
000,000,000 short tons, or less than half our 
own, but China's output of coal is extremely 
small, a trifle of 15,432,000 tons in 1913, ac- 
cording to the bank's statement. So large is 
our supply that according to the Geological 
Survey the quantity of coal produced from 
the mines of the United States since coal 
mining began a century ago is but about one- 
half of 1 per cent, of the original supply, 
the entire output of our mines from the be 
ginning of coal mining in 1800 to the end of 
1917 having been 12,000,000.000 tons out 
of an estimated supply of 3,527,000,000,000. 

Notwithstanding the fact that we have by 
far the world's largest supply and are also 
the world's largest producer of coal, our ex- 
ports are much less than those of certain 
other countries having a much smaller sup- 
ply. Great Britain's coal exports in 1913, the 
latest normal year, amounted to 82,000,000 
short tons and Germany's about 37,000,000 
short tons, while the United States in the 
fiscal year 1913 exported but about 23,000,000 
short tons. Since the beginning of the war, 
however, our coal exports have shown a slight 
increase, having been in 1917 about 20 per 
cent, more than in 1913, while those of Great 
Britain meantime declined and those of Ger- 
many were, of course, confined to trade with 
the adj acent neutral countries. The total 
value of coal exported from the United States 
in the fiscal year 1917 was $83,000,000, 
against $65,000,000 in 1913; of this $85,000,- 



F. M. BROWN & CO. 

HIGH GRADE 

Investment Securities 

Government, State, Municipal 
and Corporation 

BONDS 

300 Sansome Street, Sao Francisco, Cal. 

List of Current Offerings on Application. 



000 worth exported in 1917. $58,000,000 went 
to Canada, $5,000,000 to Cuba, about $7,000,- 
000 to South America, and $350,000,000 to 
Italy. 

The changes in industrial and commercial 
conditions in the United States resulting from 
war activities are illustrated by a series of 
statistical statements compiled by the Na- 
tional City Bank of New York, showing con- 
ditions of production, industry, and com- 
merce in the United States in 1917, com- 
pared with the preceding years, and especially 
with 1913, the year which preceded the war. 

In foreign commerce the year 1917 of 
course far exceeds in value of merchandise 
imported or exported that of any earlier year. 
Total imports for the full calendar year 1917. 
according to the bank's statement, are 60 per 
cent, greater in value than in 1913 and ex- 
ports of domestic products 150 per cent, 
greater in value than those of 1913. The 
total foreign trade of the country is estimated 
in very round terms at $9,000,000,000 in 1917, 
against $4,250,000,000 in 1913, the total im- 
ports and exports combined being thus more 
than double in 1917 that of 1913. 

That these large increases are due in a con- 
siderable degree to higher prices is evidenced 
by the fact that the raw silk imports of Sep- 
tember, 1917, were at the rate of $5.59 per 
pound, against $3.43 per pound in September 
of 1913 ; raw cotton, chiefly Egyptian, 42 cents 



Member the Stock and Bond Exchange 

Telephone Sutter 2337 

LUCIUS H. NORRIS 

Stocks, Bonds and 
Investment Securities 

LOCAL AND EASTERN 

255 Montgomery St., San Francisco 



per pound in September, 1917, against 17 
cents in September, 1913; manila hemp, $322 
per ton, against $210 per ton; cattle hides, 
27 cents per pound, against 19 cents ; goat 
skins, 42 cents per pound, against 26 cents, 
and clothing wool, 46 cents per pound, against 
24 cents in the corresponding month of 1913. 
On the export side the contrast is equally 
striking, wheat exports in September, 1917, 
having average $2.32 per bushel, against 94 
cents in September, 1913 ; corn, $1.96 per 
bushel, against 78 cents in the corresponding 
month of 1913; steel billets, $84 per ton, 
against $21 ; sole leather, 59 cents per pound, 
against 26 cents ; raw cotton, 25 cents per 
pound, against 13 cents, and refined sugar, 7 
cents per pound, against 4 cents in Septem- 
ber, 1913. 

Trade with the grand divisions of the world 
shows equally startling changes. Imports 
from Europe droped from $865,000,000 in 
1913 to $560,000,000 in 1917, while those 
from South America increased from $198,- 
000,000 in 1913 to $580,000,000 in 1917, and 
those from Asia increased from $281,000,000 
to $740,000,000, and from North America 
from $390,000,000 to $860,000,000. Exports 
to Europe jumped from $1,500,000,000 in 1913 
to $4,110,000,000 in 1917; to North America 
from $601,000,000 in 1913 to $1,210,000,000 
in 1917; to South America from $147,000,000 
in 1913 to $310,000,000 in 1917. 



GIRVIN AND MILLER 

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January 5, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



THE DIAL 

u The Literary Time-piece 
of America'* 

The only journal devoted to criticism 
and discussion of books and the arts. 
Timely, interesting and authoritative. 
Read in the current number 

War and American Literature 
By Robert Herrick 

Corrupted Dramatic Criticism 
By Kenneth Macgowan 

The Structure of Lasting Peace 
By H. M. Kallcn 

THE DIAL is now on sale at 
the leading stands. Published 
every other Thursday. 



RUSSIA THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE. 



Charles Edward Russell Talks of Revolutionary 
Condition!. 

Mr. Russell's exceptional qualifications give 
point and interest to the following excerpts 
from an article contributed by him to Land 
and Water of November 15th : 

As soon as the Revolution came most of 
the existing local governments in Russia went 
out of business and their places were taken 
by provisional committees, which steered the 
machine until new city councils could be 
elected. The world has been made to re- 
sound with tales, real and fictional, of things 
all askew in Russia. Nobody had ever 
pointed out the fact that most of these com- 
mittees, although made up of men that about 
such a business were greener than grass, 
turned oft* an exceedingly workmanlike job of 
municipal management. 

Kronstadt, of course, went with the rest, 
only farther than many. Instead of a pro- 
visional committee, it put all the local power 
into the hands of its Council of Sailors' and 
Workmen's Delegates, which immediately took 
the wheel and began to run things. 

Probably the council had its head turned. 
Men suddenly swept out of slavery into great 
power are not usually noted for a sweet and 
lamblike disposition. Anyway, the council 
sent word to the provisional government in 
Petrograd, demanding to be represented in its 
deliberations. The only notice the provisional 
government took of this was to send a man 
to represent it in the Kronstadt council. This 
was the worst possible species of misplay. As 
one of the Kronstadt men, who had been in 
America, put it to me, it was as if the Senate 
at Washington had refused to seat a senator 
from New York, but had sent one of its own 
members to sit in the New York legislature. 
So they seceded, started an independent Re- 
public of Kronstadt, and walked their wild 
and picturesquely lunatic road until they 
crashed into the Cossack machine guns that 
July day in front of the old Duma building. 
After which the Independent Republic of 
Kronstadt seems largely to have disappeared 
from the scenes. 

But all this sort of thing opened the door 
wide to that most ingenious of human devil- 
ries, German propaganda, and after the first 
few days there was plenty of trouble, all of 
a familiar brand, being truly made in Ger- 
many. German agents were at that time 
chiefly busy along the whole Russian front 
telling the soldiers that the Revolution's creed 
of public ownership meant an immediate di- 
vision of all the lands, and if they wanted 
to get in they must be on their way home, 
but in the intervals of these employments 
time was found to foment disaffection at 
Kronstadt or elsewhere. The vast army of 
German agents that infest Russia found such 
things all in the day's work. ' 



Let me see if by some examples I can con- 
vey to those that have never known any- 
thing but freedom an outline of life as 
it was under the Russian police. Say that 
there were two friends among the Intelli- 
gentsia, the class most suspected and pursued. 
If they rode downtown in a trolley-car of a 
morning going to work or business, they 
never dared to exchange more than formal 
salutations and sometimes not even these. If 
the car conductor were not a police agent in 
disguise there was sure to be a police agent 
lurking among the passengers. Almost any 
innocent remark dropped by either friend 
might be reported as of sinister import, en- 
tered against them in the colossal records that 
the police maintained, and used at any time 
as a fingerpost to Siberia. In restaurants you 
must guard every word with the greatest 
care ; the waiter is probably a disguised po- 
liceman. Be careful about your cabman ; 
many police agents have lately taken to driv- 
ing cabs. A beggar solicits alms at your 
door, he may have been sent to overhear a 

DIVIDEND NOTICE. 

HUMBOLDT SAVINGS BANK, 783 Market 
Street, near Fourth. — For the half-year ending 
December 31, 1917, a dividend has been de- 
clared at the rate of four (4) per cent, per an- 
num on all savings deposits, payable on and after 
Wednesday, January 2, 1918. Dividends not 
called for are added to and bear the same rate 
of interest as the principal from January 1, 
1918. H. C. KLEVESAHL, Cashier, 



disloyal expression or take note of your 
callers. Write your letters with scrupulous 
attention ; they will probably be opened and 
read. Be most discreet about your telephone 
conversations ; it is well known that every 
wire is tapped. 

Every educated man was particularly 
likely to be an object of suspicion. The mere 
fact that he was educated proved that he 
must know something about the outside world 
of progress and its opinion of Darkest Rus- 
sia ; he could not know that without some 
degree of discontent. Such a man could 
never be sure at any moment of the day or 
night that the eye of a police agent was not 
watching from some undiscovered hole, that 
the ear of a police agent was not listening at 
an unsuspected cranny. If such a man 
seemed to be of careful and unobjectionable 
walk, this sometimes served to make the 
police administration only the more suspicious 
of him, and then the agents provocateurs, the 
worst of all the instruments of evil, were 
loosed upon him. Some one in apparent dis- 
tress begged his help and told a pitiful story 
of injustice or of police cruelty in the hope 
that he might drop an expression of sympathy. 
Canvassers tried to get him to subscribe for 
suspected journals, book-agents tried to sell 
him proscribed books, and visitors dropped 
upon his premises revolutionary literature that 
it might be found there and used against 
him. He was likely to find at any time that 
his private papers at his home or office had 
been mysteriously rifled and yet he could 
never detect the stealthy person that rifled 
them. 

The agents provocateurs were in cunning 
and wickedness not less than human devils. 
Their business was to get up outbreaks or 
overt acts that suspected leaders of the people 
might be trapped and the rest might be ter- 
rorized with the spectacle of a swift and ter- 
rible retribution. They wormed their way 
into all clubs, societies, and organizations, 
even when these were of the most innocent 
or benevolent character, that they might take 
advantage of men off their guard and dis- 
cover usable evidence. Among the secret 
revolutionary and propaganda leagues they 
had always members. These sometimes spent 
ten years in one organization before they 
were able to pull off the thing they were 
after. Very often they themselves would 
suggest a plan and help to carry out the as- 
sassination or bomb explosion with which 
they dragged down their quarry. Most plaus- 
ible, ingenious, skillful men and wonderful 
actors they must have been. When brother 
suspected brother and son suspected father 
they still managed to pass undetected (some- 
times) in the most active revolutionary 
circles. The world read with incredulity the 
confession of Azof, one of their master 
minds. Yet it is quite true that, as he said, 
he had worked at the same time with the 
police and with the revolutionists, and had 
betrayed both. To win the confidence of the 
revolutionists he revealed to them the secret 
plans of the police, and when the time was 
ripe revealed to the police the secret plans of 
the revolutionists. He cleverly avowed that 
he suggested, planned, and took active part 
in the killing of the Grand Duke Sergius and 
then revealed to the police all the revolution- 
ists who had helped him in the assassination. 

He was but a type. There is not a ques- 
tion that the hideous system developed and 
maintained by Russian monarchy developed 
in turn new abysms of turpitude in human 
nature and new kinds of skill to carry out 
new and revolting inventions in crime. Com- 
pared with the horrible wretches that this 
system spawned and trained, Titus Oakes and 
all the other historic scoundrels look almost 
respectable. Treachery was everywhere ; men 
inhaled it with every breath; they ate it and 
lodged with it and went hob and nob with it 
along the streets. Life became literally 
blackened, cursed and poisonous with sus- 
picion, and generations of freedom must pass 
before the human heart in Russia throws off 
the last taint of the most detestable poison 
with which every vein of it has been clogged 
so long. 

-«♦» 

Major-General Leonard Wood, the division 
commander, has asked the composers and mu- 
sicians of the seven states from which the 
personnel of the Eighty-Ninth Division of the 
national army is drawn, to take part in a 
competition for the composition of an official 
march for the divisional command. "It is de- 
sired," says Captain Rowland of the division, 
"that composers keep in mind the history of 
the seven states — Missouri, Colorado, Kansas. 
Nebraska, Arizona, New Mexico, and South 
Dakota — from which the men of the Eighty- 
Ninth Division come. The music should be 
symbolical of their history from the days of 
the early settlement of these states, the 
struggles of the pioneers, their battles with 
Indians, and the gradual rise of these seven 
commonwealths to the important role they 
play today as the great Middle Western 
States of America. It is possible to weave 
into each composition melodies reminiscent of 
Indian music, of the days of the great ranches 
and cowpunchers, of the stage coaches, pony 
express, and wagon trains, melodies that are 
reminiscent of the plains, the mountains, the 
rivers, villages, towns, and cities of the 
Middle West." 



CURRENT VERSE. 

A Lost Land. 
A childhood land of mountain ways, 
Where earthy gnomes and forest fays, 
Kind foolish giants, gentle bears, 
Sport with the peasant as he fares 
Affrighted through the forest glades, 
And lead sweet wistful little maids 
Lost in the woods, forlorn, alone. 
To princely lovers and a throne. 

Dear haunted land of gorge and glen, 
Ah me! the dreams, the dreams of men! 

A learned land of wise old books 
And men with meditative looks, 
Who move in quaint red-gabled towns 
And sit in gravely-folded gowns, 
Divining in deep-laden speech 
The world's supreme arcana — each 
A homely god to listening Youth 
Eager to tear the veil of Truth; 

Mild votaries of book and pen — 
Alas, the dreams, the dreams of men! 

A music land, whose life is wrought 
In movements of melodious thought; 
In symphony, great wave on wave — 
Or fugue, elusive, swift and grave; 
A singing land, whose lyric rhymes 
Float on the air like village chimes: 
Music and Verse — the deepest part 
Of a whole nation's thinking heart! 

Oh land of Now, oh land of Then! 

Dear God! the dreams, the dreams of men! 

Slave nation in a land of hate, 

Where are the things that made you great? 

Child-hearted once — oh, deep defiled, 

Dare you look now upon a child? 

Your lore — a hideous mask wherein 

Self-worship hides its monstrous sin: — 

Music and verse, divinely wed — 

How can these live where love is dead? 

Oh depth beneath sweet human ken, 
God help the dreams, the dreams of men! 

— London Punch. 



The Inlander. 
I never climb a high hill 
■ Or gaze across the lea. 
But, oh, beyond the two of them, 
Beyond the height and blue of them, 
I'm looking for the sea. 

A blue sea — a crooning sea — 

A gray sea lashed with foam — 
But, oh, to take the drift of it, 
To know the surge and lift of it, 

And 'tis I am longing for it as the homeless 
long for home. 

I never dream at night-time 

Or close my eyes by day, 
But there I have the might of it, 
The wind-whipped, sun-drenched sight of it, 

That calls my soul away. 

Oh, deep dreams and happy dreams, 

It's dreaming still I'd be, 
For still the land I'm waking in, 
'Tis that my heart is breaking in, 

And 'tis for where I'd be sleeping with the blue 
waves over me. 
— From "The Dreamers and Other Poems," by 
Theodosia Garrison. Published by the George 
H. Doran Company. 



A Brooklyn (New York) woman has 
founded an Order of Godmothers to "take 
an individual and parental interest in our sol- 
'diers, sending letters to them and little gifts 
of remembrance and keeping track of them 
throughout the war.",. . 



The Fairies. 
The fairies have never a penny to spend, 

They haven't a thing put by, 
But theirs is the dower of bird and flower, 

And theirs are the earth and the sky. 
And though you should live in a palace of gold 

Or sleep in a dried-up ditch, 
You could never be poor as the fairies are, 
And never as rich. 

Since ever and ever the world began 

They have danced like a ribbon of flame, 
They have sung their song through the centuries 
long, 
And yet it is never the same. 
And though you be foolish or though you be wise, 

With hair of silver or gold, 
You could never be young as the fairies are 
And never as old. 

— R. F. r in Punch. 



Verdun. 
As stands a lighthouse on a headland rock, 
And with its beams illumes the surging waves 
Hurled blindly by the envious sea, which laves 
Its deep foundation's challenge to their shock; 

While, maddened by the patient rays that mock 
Its utmost strength, the pride-lashed water braves 
The beacon-tower, and scorns the flame which 

saves 
From shipwreck all that on the ocean flock 

Its wild and starless waste; so standest thou, 
Verdun, against the dark, material might, 
Which vainly storms thy spirit walls. Naught 

daunts 

The courage of thy sacrificial vow 

That none shall pass o'er thee, to quench the 

light 
Flashed world ward from the towering soul of 

France. — Professor Courtney Langdon. 



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total of church property exempt $206,735,926. 
This is one-third of all real estate values in 
the city. 




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THE ARGONAUT 



Janunry 5, 1918. 



QHplHftttVimB* 

BOOK DEPARTMENT 

A Novel of the Revolution 

WHAT NEVER HAPPENED 

By " Ropshin " which is the 
pen name of Boris Savin- 
kov, Minister of War in 
Kerensky's Cabinet. 

Translated from the Russian 
by Thomas Seltzer 

$1.60 net 



THE LATEST BOOKS. 



A Serious Study of the Russian Revolution. 

Up to the present time all the accounts of 
the Russian revolution have been purely jour- 
nalistic and very poor at that. Marcosson 
wrote a fairly good objective story of it; Isaac 
Don Levine made up a fantastic romance 
about it from a reading of the Russian news- 
papers. But a revolution like that in Russia 
is not a detached episode; it is only a phase 
of social and political development and only 
to be understood in the light of earlier stages 
of the movement and the social and economic 
factors that are responsible for it. Further- 
more it must be borne in mind that what is 
now termed the Russian revolution is only a 
part of the great change that is taking place; 
the revolution has only begun with the over- 
throwing of the dynasty and the groping about 
after a new organization to take its place. 

Contemporary history is a misnomer. Men 
are too close to the events of which they treat 
either to judge them judicially or to have at 
their command the necessary documents from 
which to obtain a balanced opinion. It is in 
this light that the book which Mr. Moissaye J. 
Olgin has written, under the title of "The 
Soul of the Russian Revolution," must be 
judged. It is an honest and an able attempt 
to explain the revolution by reference to what 
has gone before and to trace it through its 
various preceding stages. As the author was 
himself for years a militant revolutionist and 
one who suffered much under the old regime, 
it is hardly to be expected that he can free 
himself from violent prejudices and antipa- 
thies. This is the one drawback to a thought- 
ful, well-planned, and valuable work. 

The most important contribution made by 
Mr. Olgin is his clear and incisive analysis of 
the two distinct forces in Russia that chiefly 
led to the revolution and which today largely 
determine the attitude of the mass of the Rus- 
sian people toward it and toward the various 
plans put forward in the different programmes 
for a new order. These two forces are first 
the recent industrial development of Russia, 
which under conditions differing from those 
of other European states, has produced an in- 
dustrial population and proletariat sunk deep 
in misery and economic bondage; and second, 
the agrarian question, a heritage of the earlier 
conditions of land-ownership in Russia and 
unwise arrangements made in regard to the 
land at the time of the emancipation of the 
serfs. Briefly, the industrial classes were in 
a state of hopeless penury and degradation 
due to low wages, long hours, and horrible 
living conditions, and came to feel that they 
were being strangled by capitalism. The 
peasants were near the verge of starvation 
and sunk in the depths of ignorance because 
they had too little land and that held under 
conditions that made for deterioration and 
not improvement. Both classes came to re- 
gard the government as their enemy. 

The present trend of the revolution and the 
endeavor to put into operation various 
Utopian schemes must be viewed in the light 
of these two forces and the desire to find a 
way to get rid of the evils which both classes 
suffered under. Furthermore it must be re- 
membered that the Russians have their own 
national characteristics, and what they will do 
under certain conditions may not be predi- 
cated from the experiences of other peoples 
in their various revolutions. A second part 
of the volume is devoted to the struggle of 
1905, which led to the October Manifesto and 
the calling of the Duma. A third section is 
given up to an attempt to interpret the Rus- 
sian revolutionary movement through the 



A Honolulu Novel 

" THE FLAMINGO'S NEST n 

369 pases. $1.35. 
T, _• tropical loneliness of Hawaii is painted 
irited color." 
Sent postpaid on receipt of price 

PRAGUE : 2112 Dnrant, Berkeley, CaL 



literature of the time which expresses the 
Russian mind, the character of the old regime 
and its officials, and the various types — intel- 
lectual, peasant, bureaucratic, and revolu- 
tionary' — that were concerned. The fourth 
part of the book deals with the recent phase 
of the revolution, the abdication of Nicholas 
II, and the currents and counter currents of 
the revolution at the present time. Alto- 
gether it is a most valuable contribution to 
our study of the great drama in Russia, the 
first work in English that really sheds any 
light upon it, but due allowance must be 
made when reading it for the state of mind 
and violent opinions of the author and a 
certain tendency to paint dark pictures darker 
and at times to generalize unduly from them. 

The Soul of the Russian Revolution. By 
Moissaye J. Olgin. New York: Henry Holt & 
Co.; $2.50 net. 

Brian Brooke. 
Not the least among the poet victims of 
the war is Brian Brooke (Korongo), who 
died from wounds received at Mametz on 
July 1, 1916. Brian Brooke was already 
famous as a hunter and explorer in East 
Africa when the war began. He became a 
captain in the East African forces, but early 
in 1916, he went to France, only to meet his 
end in three weeks. Evidently he was a very 
gallant gentleman. In one of the few poems 
that he wrote after the war began he says : 
Oh, whirlwind and wind and vulture, I asked for 

the news of the war; 
I asked for no words of culture, and I asked for 

no tales of gore. 
You are free in the sky to wander, you are free 

in the world to roam, 
Could you not for one moment ponder, to bring 

me the news from home? 
Did I ask you for weeping and crying, did I ask 

you for tales of woe? 
When my people perhaps are dying, and I long to 

be striking a blow? 
I know that our country will win it, but send us 

some news how they fare, 
And give me a chance to be in it, and send me 

a chance to be there. 

Most of these poems relate to life in Africa 
and the white man's share in it. Their merit 
entitles them to attention, and as a memorial 
to their author they should be known through- 
out the English-speaking world. 

The Poems of Brian Brooke. New York: 
John Lane Company. 



Income Tax. 

Mr. Joseph J. Scott, formerly collector of 
internal revenue at San Francisco, is the au- 
thor of a work on "The Income Tax and 
Other Federal Taxes," defined on the title 
page as "an authoritative analysis, simplifica- 
tion, and illustration of the exacting and per- 
plexing requirements of the United States tax 
laws." 

Mr. Scott has done everything that is hu- 
manly possible to aid the taxpayer in the as- 
sessment of his fiscal liabilities. He gives us 
the text of the laws, their elucidation, and 
their application to every kind of income. 
He explains the meaning of deductions and 
exemptions, and the scope of individual rights 
under the statute. And by way of additional 
clarification he cites a number of individual 
cases with analyses of their taxable revenue. 
It is the best publication of the kind that has 
yet come under our notice. 

The Income Tax and Other Federal Taxes. 
By Joseph J. Scott. Published by the author at 
San Francisco ; $2. 



■Why Not Marry. 

Anna Steese Richardson says that she 
edited these essays, and that they were writ- 
ten by no one person. Most of them ap- 
peared as editorials in Pictorial Review, and 
they are based on the experiences of authors 
and readers. 

They are bright, clever, and wise. The 
usual reasons for celibacy are passed in re- 
view and demolished, and those who are not 
celibate, but who wish they were, are ad- 
monished as to their failures. These failures, 
although they are grouped under many heads, 
seem to be due invariably to a gross and 
brutal selfishness, the selfishness that modern 
civilization has exalted into a gospel, the 
selfishness that is carefully inculcated at the 
mother's knee, in the school, the university, 
and the church. Its other name is material- 
ism. 

Why Not Marry. Edited by Anna Steese 
Richardson. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Com- 
pany; $1.40. 

A Novelist's Playlets. 
Mary S. Watts, novelist and short-story 
writer, has been trying her hand at short 
plays. "Three Short Plays" read entertain- 
ingly ; almost as much so as short stories. 
Perhaps in the eyes of the play expert this 
would make them suspect, but their chatty 
dialogue is characterized by naturalness, and 
contains some wit and plenty of humor. 
There is ingenuity in the use of the talking 
machine in "An Ancient Dance," but "Civiliza- 
tion" has more to it in the way of a root idea. 
It contrasts the American cowboy who mur- 
ders the king's English, but has preserved 



unimpaired his belief in the ideal woman and 
his sense of honor, with the rich American 
who has graduated from Harvard, dresses im- 
peccably, and cheats at parlor cards and the 
game of love. "The Wearin' of the Green" 
is a lively and ingenious farce. All three plays 
contains prosperous Americans typical of their 
class, amusing themselves characteristically, 
and uttering quantities of cheerful trivialities 
with perfect self-satisfaction. 

Three Short Plays. By Mary S. Watts. New 
York: The Macmillan Company; $1.25. 



Brahmadarsanam. 
This volume is made up of six lectures de- 
livered by Sri Ananda Acharya in Christiania 
during 1915. They are intended as an intro- 
duction to the study of Hindu philosophy and 
it would be hard to speak too highly in praise 
of their clarity of exposition and the graceful 
and persuasive charm that animates them. 
The first chapter is devoted to a general sur- 
vey of the ground, and this is followed by a 
chapter on "Dualism," a chapter on "Theism," 
and three chapters on "Monism." Hindu phi- 
losophy has never been presented in a form 
more attractive than this. 

Brahmadarsanam. By Sri Ananda Acharya. 
New York: The Macmillan Company; $1.25. 



Gossip of Books and Authors. 
It may come as a bit of a surprise to some 
to find William DeMorgan and Henry James 
classed among "Novelists of Yesterday," 
along with Meredith, Gissing, and Hardy, in 
Helen Thomas Follett and Wilson Follett's 
"Some Modern Novelists," which Henry Holt 
& Co. expect to issue as their first book of 
the New Year in general literature on January 
10th. A second group of "Novelists of To- 
day" includes Howells, Philpotts, Wells, 
Arnold Bennett, Galsworthy, Edith Wharton, 
and Conrad. 

Harry Franck, now a lieutenant attached 
to American staff headquarters in France, 
continues to win greater audiences for his 
unique travel books. The Century Company 
announces that "A Vagabond Journey Around 
the World" has just gone into an eleventh 
edition, while "Vagabonding Down the 
Andes," the latest work of this soldier-author, 
has already been sent twice to the printer. 

The letters from France of Norman Prince, 
the young American aviator who was among 
the first to die for France, are soon to be 
published, with a memoir by George F. Bab- 
bitt, under the title, "Norman Prince : An 
American Who Died for the Cause He 
Loved." The book will appear under the im- 
print of the Houghton Mifflin Company. 

The following bit of biography is from 
Paul L. Anderson of the Clarence H. White 
School of Photography, whose "Pictorial Pho- 
tography" (J. B. Lippincott Company) is said 
by experts to be the best book yet published 
on that subject; "In 1910 I got married, and 
the modus operandi was characteristic of my 
unconventional manner of doing things. I 
had been engaged for some time, but I dia 
not look forward with joyous anticipation to 
the regulation church wedding, with ushers, 
bridesmaids, 'Here Comes the Bride,' etc. 
While on a visit to the damsel's home I ac- 
quired a few typhoid organisms, and thus es- 
caped all the fuss and feathers of a fashion- 
able wedding. For the damsel in question 
thought she'd rather be a widow than not 
(no, that's hardly the way to put it, but you 
know what I mean), so she married me out 
of hand, while I was too weak to resist. The 
wedding was attended by the minister, the 
parents and sisters of the contracting parties, 
the physician in attendance, and the nurse, 
and after shaking hands with the happy man 



All Books that are reviewed In the 
Argonaut can be obtained at 

Robertson's 

222 STOCKTON ST. 

Union Squor, San Francisco 



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(joke!) they all went out and washed their 
hands in a bowl of dilute carbolic acid, that 
being a novel innovation for weddings and not 
likely to become a permanent custom." 

Carolyn Wells, whose Fleming Stone stories 
have had a recent sequel in "The Mark of 
Cain" (J. B. Lippincott Company), is cele- 
I brating her one-hundredth — no, dear reader, 
not the hundred anniversary of her birth, but 
the publication of her hundredth book. 

Oswald Kendall, the young Englishman 
whose story of adventure, "The Romance of 
the Martin Connor," was enthusiastically re- 
ceived in this country, has just been made a 
prisoner of war in Germany. Mr. Kendall has 
been at the front almost continually since 
the war began. In July, 1916, he was 
wounded, and spent several months in the 
hospital, returning to the front just before 
Christmas last year. 



Late reports on health conditions at army 
camps and cantonments show the epidemic of 
measles to be greatly decreasing. In several 
camps where measles has extensively pre- 
vailed the number of cases of pneumonia has 
decreased. 



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January 30, 1918 

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January 5, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



THE LATEST BOOKS. 

More Light on Paul Jones. 

The excuse for another book on the re- 
doubtable Paul Jones is found in the digging 
up of numerous contemporary accounts of his 
exploits on the English coasts in files of Eng- 
lish newspapers, and it must be confessed that 
these accounts make romantic reading. The 
editor, Mr. Don C. Seitz, would have added 
to the value of his collection had he accom- 
panied them with critical notes and traced 
down some of the exaggerated stories and 
legends that circulated freely at the time. 
Although newspapers must be regarded as 
having value as historical sources, they re- 
quire careful editing and checking for the 
elimination of error and rumor, and the pres- 
ent publication possesses more interest as 
throwing light on contemporary English opin- 
ion and feeling than value as historical ma- 
terial. Of far greater value is the exhaustive 
bibliography, which evidences painstaking 
labor and research. 

A quotation from the London Evening Post 
of September 28, 1779, commenting upon the 
burning of Fairfield and Norwalk by the Brit- 
ish forces, is extremely interesting, for it 
shows the character of liberal opinion in 
England at the time : 

What will be the consequences of burning 
Fairfield and Norwalk? Paul Jones has done 
no mischief yet ; but had he known of burn- 
ing these towns, is it not probable he would 
have burned Leith and Hull? They were as 
completely at his mercy. When this burning 
business comes to be retaliated upon our own 
coasts, we shall then see the ministers 
scribblers expatiating upon the cruelty of it, 
of its being contrary to the rules of war, &c, 
and those public prints, which are paid and 
bribed, by the public money, for deserting 
and betraying the public interest, who print 
every lie for ministers, but refuse every truth 
against them, will be the foremost to publish 
those complaints, which they now approve in 
others. The nation can not be misled much 
longer; the tricks of the court in buying the 
newspapers, and sending about their runners, 
are become so obvious, people can not now 
be duped by them, as they have been. 

By the examination of the four men, be- 
longing to one of Paul Jones' squadron, be- 
fore the mayor and magistrates of Hull, it ap- 
pears, that Jones' orders were not to burn 
any houses or towns. What an example of 
honour and greatness does America thus show 
to us ! While our troops are running about 
from town to town on their coast, and burn- 
ing everything, with a wanton, wicked, and 
deliberate barbarity, Dr. Franklin gives no 
orders to retaliate. He is above it. And 
there was a time when an English minister 
would have disdained to make war in so vil- 
lainous a mode. It is a disgrace to the na- 
tion. 

Will Mr. George Creel and our other cen- 
sors who are hypersensitive to any criticism 
of our government in time of war kindly take 
notice of this example of freedom of the 
press over a century ago. 

Paul Jones: His Exploits in English Seas. 
By Don C. Seitz. New York: E. P. Dutton & 
Co.; $3.50 net. 

Parliament or Imperial Government. 

Mr. Harold Hodge, formerly editor of the 
Saturday Review, has selected a somewhat 
misleading title for his book on the future 
government and administration of the British 
commonwealth. "In the Wake of the War" 
suggests many considerations and problems of 
a different sort. 

His contention is that some institution far 
different in character from the British Par- 
liament will be necessary if the commonwealth 
is to be held together and administered in 
a manner that shall conduce to the best in- 
terests of all. His thesis is self-evident, and 
most people in England already realize that 
after the war there will have to be a sharp 
distinction between the legislature that makes 
laws for the strictly local affairs of England, 
or of Great Britain, and the body that handles 
the affairs of empire. 

It is rather when he comes to the discus- 
sion of the shortcomings of any elected par- 
liament and the weaknesses of the party sys- 
tem and of political lines generally that one 
feels bound to take issue with him and sug- 
gest that he place his argument for imperial 
government on different grounds. What he 
is really discussing is the age-long question 
of the value of varying degrees of repre- 
sentative government and the weaknesses in- 
herent in the democratic system. 

In the Wake of the War. By Harold Hodge. 
New York: John Lane Company; $1.50 net. 



The Friends. 
These three short stories by Stacey Aumo- 
nier must be assigned high rank in the fiction 
of the day. They are based on Dostoevsky's 
assertion that "as a general rule people, even 
the wicked, are much more naive and simple- 
hearted than we suppose." And so we have 
the story of the two old London "soaks" 
whose love for each other is quenched nei- 
ther by whisky nor by death. And there is 
another story, "In the Way of Business," ex- 
plaining why salesmen sometimes drink in 
order to get business and then lose their 



business because they drink. These stories 
show unusual insight as well as the power to 
interpret the realities that He below the sem- 
blances. 

The Friends. By Stacy Amuonier. New 
York: The Century Company; $1. 



Kiplingana. 

Of modern writers few lend themselves 
more readily to comment and parody than 
Rudyard Kipling. Early editions of his works 
bring fabulous prices and files of old journals 
are ransacked for forgotten examples of his 
precocious genius. At a time when Kipling 
was unknown in England and came knocking 
at the door for literary recognition, an ad- 
mirer, Mr. C. F. Monkshood, devoted to him 
a book of appreciation, the first in the field. 
Now he has brought out another volume 
dealing with the little-known works of Kip- 
ling and including interesting comments and 
clever parodies. 

Doubtless many things are here brought out 
from obscurity on which Mr. Kipling him- 
self would have written R. I. P., but your Kip- 
lingite, and there are thousands of him, will 
welcome this opportunity to view the odds 
and ends of the author's early efforts and 
reproductions of rare title pages. The vol- 
ume includes many interesting stories con- 
nected with the introduction of Kipling's 
works into England and the skepticism with 
which he was received before he suddenly 
bounded into popular favor. Among the new 
stories about Kipling occurs the following: 

Apropos of his recent series of articles on 
the work of our submarine heroes, a friend of 
his suggested that he write a companion se- 
ries on the doings of our gallant airmen. 

"Perhaps! Some day!" was Kipling's non- 
committal reply. 

"Oh, but you must," insisted his friend. 
"Let's see whether we can't hit on a good 
title." 

"Well," answered Rudyard, after a moment 
or two's cogitation, "what do you think of 
'Plane Tales from the Sky'?" 

The Less Familiar Kipling and Kiplingana. 
By G. F. Monkshood. New York: E. P. Dutton 
& Co.; $2 net. 

Another Dostoeviky Volume. 

The Macmillan Company has added another 
to the series of Dostoevsky translations by 
Mrs. Garnett, this time including the three 
stories entitled, respectively, "The Gambler," 
"Poor People," and "The Landlady." As to 
the excellence of the translator's work no 
comment need be made, as it is well known. 
Likewise, it may be said also, the work of 
the great Russian psychological novelist is be- 
coming better known. 

There is much in Dostoevsky to discourage 
the foreign reader. He is not only gloomy 
and even morbid from our point of view, but 
he is also discursive, and frequently holds up 
his narrative for what seems an interminable 
time for an incidental episode or discussion. 
Some of his works, especially his later ones, 
are utterly discouraging. But of his greater 
novels the power of psychological analysis, 
laying the soul bare, and the depth of human 
pity and sympathy for suffering, hold the 
reader enthralled, even though he shudders. 

It is the second of the three stories in the 
present volume that merits most attention, 
and it is a matter of surprise that its title 
did not give the caption to the book. "Poor 
People" is the novel that made Dostoevsky's 
reputation and brought him fame at a single 
bound. There are few more dramatic tales 
of poor young writers than that of Dostoev- 
sky timidly handing his manuscript to the 
great literary light of the time, and then re- 



pelled by what seemed to him coldness and 
lack of interest, making his way back to his 
bare attic. The great man and his friend be- 
gin to read the story ; they are so held by 
the genius of it that they can not put it down 
until it is finished ; and then they must go 
and search out the young author to congratu- 
late him, although it is 4 in the morning. 
Few men have tasted such joy after bitter- 
ness as did Dostoevsky when "Poor Folk" 
brought him from obscurity to sudden fame. 

The Gambler and Other Stories. By Fyodor 
Dostoevsky. Translated from the Russian by 
Constance Garnett. New York: The Macmillan 
Company; $1.50. 

The Ciammer and the Submarine. 
The war, like a gigantic octopus, stretches 
out its tentacles over civilization and snatches 
its victims, often from among those who, from 
distance or occupation, might suppose them- 
selves exempt. Mr. Hopkins illustrates this 
for us in his gently told story of an Eastern 
family living its retired and sheltered life and 
surrounded by its relatives and friends. But 
the war claims them all one by one, young 
and old. Mr. Hopkins avoids the note of 
tragedy, but he is a master of the art of what 
may be called a cheery pathos. 

The Clammer and the Submarine. By Wil- 
liam John Hopkins. Boston : Houghton Mifflin 
Company; $1.25. 

Briefer Reviews. 
Under the title of "The Exploits of Juve" 
Brentano's have published a second of the 
series of Fantomas Detective Tales, by Pierre 
Souvestre and Marcel Allain ($1.35). These 
stories are extraordinarily well told and 
should prove attractive to the criminologist 
who is interested in the French variety of 
misdeeds. 

Little, Brown & Co. have published "The 
Adventure Beautiful," by Lilian Whiting, long 
and favorably known as a writer on the 
simpler aspects of philosophy and who now 
seems to take a definite stand as a psychic 
researcher and a theosophist. Miss Whiting 
makes no attempt at scientific exposition, but 
her literary style and her sincerity probably 
give her a greater influence than she could 
ever command by erudition. 

Stephen Gwynn contributes a volume on 
"Mrs. Humphry Ward" to the Writers of the 
Day Series now in course of publication by 
Henry Holt & Co. (60 cents). Mr. Gwyn's 
summary and his judgment are alike just. 
Mrs. Ward enjoys writing, he says, because 
she "has discovered a subtle device through 
which argument can be conducted under spe- 
cial forms. She fails, I think, in the last re- 
sort, not because she is too much of the good 
citizen, but because she is too little of an 
artist." 



The keel for the first composite vessel for 
the United States Shipping Board was laid in 
Mobile November 1 by the Mobile Shipbuild- 
ing Company. 



New Books Received. 
The Flyer's Guide. By Captain N. J. Gill. 
New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.; $2. 
A handbook- of the aeroplane. 

Twenty-Two Goblins. Translated from the 
Sanskrit by Arthur W. Ryder. New York: £. P. 
Dutton & Co.; $3. 

Fairy tales and folklore. 

The Church and the Man. By Donald 
Hankey. New York: The Macmillan Company; 
60 cents. 

A discussion of church influence. 

Furniture of the Olden Time. By Frances 
Clary Morse. New York: The Macmillan Com- 
pany; $6. 

First published in 1902. A new edition with 
120 illustrations. 

A Nest of Spies. By Pierre Souvestre and 
Marcel Allain. New York: Brentano's; $1.35. 
A Fantomas novel. 

The Odes of Horace. Translated by Warren 
H. Cudworth. New York: Alfred A. Knopf; 
$1.50. 

Intended to produce the probable effect of the 
Latin upon Horace's contemporaries. 

Landscape and Figure Painters of America. 
By Frederic Fairchild Sherman. New York: 
Privately printed; $1.75. 

With illustrations. 

The Little Tailor of the Winding Way. By 
Gertrude Crounfield. New York: The Macmillan 
Company; 60 cents. 

For children. 

On Contemporary Literature. By Stuart P. 
Sherman. New York: Henry Holt & Co.; $1.50. 
Critical essays. 

What Never Happened. By "Ropshin" (Boris 
Savinkov). New York: Alfred A. Knopf; $1.60. 

A novel of the revolution. Translated from the 
Russian. 

Universal Training for Citizenship and Pub- 
lic Service. By William H. Allen. New York: 
The Macmillan Company; $1.50. 

A formulation of minimum aims and steps. 

Food. By Eugene Lyman Fisk, M. D. New 
York: Funk & Wagnalls Company. 

What to buy. How to cook it. How to eat it. 

Prince Melody in Music Land. By Elizabeth 
Simpson. New York: Alfred A. Knopf; $1.25. 
Musical fairy tales for children. 

Frenzied Fiction. By Stephen Leacock. New 
York: John Lane Company; $1.25. 
Humorous essays. 

The City of the Discreet. By Pio Baroja. 
New York: Alfred A. Knopf; $1.50. 
A novel. Translated from the Spanish. 

Madame Sand. By Philip Moeller. New York: 
Alfred A. Knopf; $1.25. 
A biographical comedy. 

Our Hawaii. By Charmian Kittredge London. 
New York: The Macmillan Company; $2.25. 
A comprehensive description of Hawaii. 

On the Wings of the Morning. By Arthur 
Grant. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.; $2. 
A volume of essays. 



The Spring of Joy. By Mary Webb. 
York: E. P. Dutton & Co.; $1.25. 
"A little book of healing." 



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10 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 5, 1918. 




"TURN TO THE RIGHT.' 



Smiles and tears and gusts of ecstatic 
laughter are rippling the surfaces of the Co- 
lumbia Theatre audiences. "Turn to the 
Right" is continuing the hit made in the 
East. For Winchell Smith always makes a 
hit. His numerous collaborators — this time 
it is John E. Hazzard — may rely infallibly 
on good luck when they work with him. He 
thoroughly understands the physchology of 
the American audience. He knows that it 
detests seriousness, but adores sentimentality. 
He knows as well as he knows his own name 
that the sentimental appeal should always 
round off into a joke, as, for instance, when 
Joe, home again after his unhappy year "do- 
ing time," sees the family Bible, approaches it 
tenderly, opens it reverently, and reads on the 
page devoted to family records "Joseph Bas>- 
com, born April 1st." That incident and its 
rapturous reception by the audience forms an 
index to the taste of our average playgoer. 
The audience promptly went off the handle 
at this joke, all heads swaying in laughter 
like wheat before the breeze. 

"Turn to the Right" is also rural drama. 
It openly bases its appeal on many old stand- 
bys to which audiences are still deeply at- 
tached ; the repentant, reforming son, the 
saintly mother, unaware of that son's trans- 
gressions ; the mortgage on the farm ; the 
scheming, conscienceless creditor taking ad- 
vantage of rural innocence. Throw in a few 
ex-jailbirds moved almost to tears by mother's 
innocence and unsuspicious hospitality, mod- 
ify this soft strain with slangy comicalities, 
introduce some rural belles who reciprocate 
the interest of the softened ex-jailbirds, bring 
on a "Hi Holler" character, resurrect a vil- 
lage romance between the hero and a 
stylishly educated sweetheart emancipated 
from rural gawkiness, work up a financial 
plan for removing the mortgage and increas- 
ing the family fortunes, and there you have 
"Turn to the Right." 

Result: son rehabilitated (another fellow 
did it) ; money flowing in; scheming creditor 
discountenanced, jailbirds reformed, rural 
belles woed and won, mansion built for Joe 
and his hushed-voiced charmer in sight on a 
conveniently adjacent knoll, mother blissfully 
happy, and the great American public ap- 
peased by seeing all hands round dressed up 
in conventional evening dress. 

Thus, "Turn to the Right." Quantities of 
enormously successful jokes following up 
conventional but softening sentimentality, 
plenty of farm atmosphere, sufficiency of in- 
genious incidents to divert the youthful- 
minded public, and all this represented by a 
well-selected company. And we must not for- 
get the scenic effects; an old farm kitchen 
with real water coming from the pump at 
the sink ; a hill orchard with practicable trees 
and real-looking fruit; and a subsequent view 
of this same orchard dressed in its new spring 
garment of pink blossoms. 

I must confess to having been thoroughly 
taken in by the prologue, which is really in 
respect to solid merit the choicest part of the 
play. Joe has come to a pawnbroker's estab- 
lishment to get rid of his prison garb, and 
lay in a present or two for the home folks. 
His two ex-prison pals turn up. The three 
men are loyal friends. The two pals take it 
for granted that all three will rehabilitate 
their fortunes by joining in a crooked job. 
But Joe is fixed in his resolutions for reform. 
No "booze," and "the first turn to the right." 
The scene is well acted. Samuel Lowen- 
wirth's pawnbroker is a bit of life, and I 
really believed "Turn to the Right" was going 
to be, too, until the usual comedy of senti- 
ment, tenderly enshrined in the affections ot 
the American people, began to reveal itself. 
For "Turn to the Right" is for a public that 
is precisely in the mental attitude of the chil- 
dren when they say, "Mamma, tell me a fairy 
story-" It is a dear little fairy story, J^e is 
a dear boy, Betty is a dear little sister, "Mai 
is a dear little mother, and the ex-jailbirds 
are two dear things, but, query. Is it art? 
No, it aint; and "Hang art!" the delighted 
average aw.itor would say. "It's better than 
art. It makes me cry a little and laugh a 
lot. and th it's good enough art for me." 

you know all. The man or woman 

- "Turn to the Right" is the happy, 

c" ^an-minded, conventional citizen. 

he full worth of his money, and goes 



home chortling with satisfaction. One hears 
the unanimous buzz of an approving verdict 
passing over the theatre as the play comes to 
an end, and the haughty high-brow who 
hungers for the drama that is founded on the 
eternal verities had better take himself and 
his demands elsewhere, for he finds himself 
shy of sympathetic society. 

A very satisfactory company has been 
chosen to represent the dozen or more char- 
acters required in the play. Mabel Bert's 
gentleness and refinement are agreeably in 
evidence in the character of "Mother"; she 
is much on the horizon, all gentle sweetness, 
j trustfulness, and white hair. It is the same 
J Mabel Bert whom we remember in the old 
I McKee Rankin days. Like Eugenie, the 
[ French empress, she became a beauty all in 
a day, because of the discovery that she had 
a beautiful figure. It was in "Midsummer 
Nights' Dream," was it not? — in which the 
Grecian costumes required showed to graceful 
advantage hitherto concealed beauties. For 
that was before such liberal views of femi- 
nine contours were accorded the public. 

As happens so often in plays of the type 
of "Turn to the Right," the more important 
characters, and those requiring the best act- 
ing, are in the hands of the men. Ralph 
Morgan has hit on the right scheme for indi- 
cating Joe's character. Only an affectionate, 
home-loving boy could have a voice of that 
timbre, and I have an idea that Mr. Morgan 
histrionically evolved that voice as a means 
of indicating the possession of a heart as 
soft as lemon squash. Mr. Morgan has also 
the gift for emphatic expression without too 
much stress, as shown in the way the actor 
indicated Joe's determined rejection of 
'booze" and crookedness. 

Philip Bishop was fortuitously created to 
realize the yearnings of managers for an 
amusing comedy player of distinctively rural 
type. James H. Huntley gives an expert rural 
twist to Deacon Tillinger's craftiness. Barry 
McCormack and William Foran are loth ex- 
pert in delineating the ways of slangily and 
meltingly sentimental crooks. Funny old 
public ! How tenderly it feels towards these 
two genial derelicts against whom, in real 
life, it would bolt and bar distrustful doors. 
Josephine Hart Phelps. 



After a lapse of close upon 2000 years since 
the destruction of Pompeii the skeletons of 
four of the victims have been discovered in 
the actual positions in which they w r ere over- 
taken by the catastrophe. Two of the vic- 
tims, apparently a man and wife belonging to 
the upper classes, had evidently been caught 
by the shower of red-hot stones in the clois- 
tered garden of their villa, and while hasten- 
ing to seek shelter in a corner had been sud- 
denly buried and asphyxiated through the col- 
lapse of the roof overladen with volcanic 
dust. The husband was found in a sitting po- 
sition, with his head and back bent forward 
and the legs wide apart. His wife was stand- 
ing erect immediately behind him. Her gola 
earrings were found on a level with her ears, 
and there are two gold rings still on the 
fingers. A third skeleton was that of a youth 
huddjing with his face to a hole in the gar- 
den wall. The last of the group, a full-sized 
man, bent almost double under the weight of 
the suffocating debris, had on a finger of 
the right hand an iron ring inset with a 
prettily engraved cornelian. 



A British army surgeon describes an im- 
proved glass eye which can move. The chief 
drawbacks to the ordinary glass eye are that, 
being simply a convex shell of glass, it tends 
to sink back into the socket and is fixed in a 
stony stare. The new device gets over these 
difficulties by placing in the socket of the eye 
a sphere of living cartilage or gristle taken 
without risk from the patient's ribs. It is all 
one operation. While one surgeon removes 
the destroyed eye, . another surgeon removes 
the pieces of cartilage from near the patient's 
breastbone. Two pieces are made into a little 
globe, which is placed in the socket, and the 
thin outer covering of the eye, the conjunc- 
tiva, is sewn over to hold it in place. The 
ordinary glass eye shell is inserted over this 
and is prevented from sinking backwards. 
Some movement of the eye by the wearer is 
said to be possible. 



An American city, the population of which 
will be more than 100,000, is in process of 
construction in France. This city is not a 
cantonment in any sense of the word but a 
regular American city, the great majority of 
the inhabitants of which will be civilians. 
The great arsenal which the Ordnance Depart- 
ment of the army is building in France is 
responsible for the creation of this Ameri- 
can town in the heart of France. The arsenal 
proper will comprise forty-eight buildings, 
each larger than an average New York City 
block, while one of the great ordnance plants 
will alone be larger than all the arsenals 
in the United States put together. The city 
will have its own police, fire, and health de- 
partments, while thousands of small dwel- 
lings will be erected to house the workers. 



FRUSTRATED. 



A Christmas Tragedy. 



My heroine is a little Serbian girl, rather 
roughish about the hair, dirtyish about the 
garments, and neglectedish about the nose. 
She lives on an alley adjacent to a neighbor- 
hood the children of which look down on 
her. Her story begins when one of these 
neighbors, a childless matron who had often 
taken note of the social ostracization exer- 
cised toward the little Serbian, detected a 
wistful gleam in her dark eyes, as, finger in 
mouth, she pensively regarded from a dis- 
tance a competitive doll-show instituted by 
her small neighbors. 

The little Serbian had no dolls, and the 
roly-poly urchin in rompers who tagged after 
her had not a toy to bless himself with. 
They played with pebbles, built houses in the 
sand, and extemporized enclosing walls with 
rubbish picked up in the street. 

The little Serbian wistfully watched her 
tiny neighbors, full of normal imitativeness, 
play the game as their mothers play it. For 
the time being child democracy did not pre- 
vail. The queen of the revels was the child- 
owner of the biggest doll. They were all en- 
gaged in turning their bisque and sawdust 
idols upside down, minutely inspecting the 
underpinning of their rivals and swapping aw- 
ful whoppers about how much their mothers 
paid a yard for the lace trimmings. 

Queer human nature, that is always inflict- 
ing sufferings on others, making loud com- 
plaints the while of the suffering devised br- 
others. All these women in miniature were 
fully conscious of the pensive little Serbian 
who surveyed the show from a distance, and 
not one of them betrayed the slightest con- 
sciousness that she existed. 

The kindly neighbor, divining the maternal 
heart hunger of the little Serb, was suddenly 
possessed by a brilliant and illuminating idea. 
Xo longer should little Miss Serb remain the 
only doll-less child in the neighborhood. She 
would dress a doll for her Xnias. A huge 
image as large as a baby immediately material- 
ized, and Kindly Neighbor fell to her task 
with a sort of sacred frenzy. She clothed 
that doll with meticulous care, from her cot- 
ton integument out. She lace-edged her 
bloomerettes and her skirties, she conformed 
to the style in the fashioning of her outer 
garments, and she trimmed her saucy toque 
with waifs and strays from her own ostrich 
plumes. Little Miss Serb should have no 
reason to blush for her child-to-be! 

The doll was finished before Christmas, 
and the members of Kindly Neighbor's house- 
hold had some difficulty in preventing the im- 
patient donor from presenting it forthwith, 
bribing her finally into waiting for the great 
day by a promise of toys and sweets for the 
little brudder in rompers. 

And then the blow fell. Kindly Neighbor 
was accustomed to seeing Serbian pere pass 
his days in a tangle of junk. So she thought 
nothing of it when she saw him passing to 
and fro encompassed with more than the 
usual amount and variety of unclassified 
household rubbish. She had no suspicion 
whatever of what was going to befall until it 
befell. For when, two or three days before 
Christmas, she was glancing out of her back 
windows into Serb alley she saw a "To Let" 
sign on Serbian villa. Oh horror! the doll! 
the toys ! K. N. flew down into the street 
and questioned the scornful children. Yes, 
the Serbs had moved. No, they didn't have 
a mover's van. A rags-sacks-and-bottle-man 
had transported their possessions elsewhere. 
No, they didn't know where. Some one had 
said Hyde Street. K. N., deter min_e_d_ that the 
doll should fulfill its destiny, flew around the 
neighborhood like an animated interrogation 
point. In vain. She motored up and down 
Hyde Street, showering out inquiries. All, 
all in vain. No junky pere, no pensive little 
Serbian maid, no little brudder in second- 
hand rompers a world too wide for his baby 
shanks. 

So there was the beautiful doll forever 
severed from its little soul-mother. Never 
was she to know the bliss of holding its in- 
conveniently huge proportions in her em- 
bracing arms. The happy Christmas day 
would never dawn for her when she would 
pace the length of the block, her resplendent 
child the cynosure of all eyes. For it could 
not happen twice in her life that a kindly 
neighbor would present to her a huge and 
beautiful doll with blankly staring eyes, lace 
on its underpinnings, and ostrich plumes on 
its inconceivably beautiful hat. Never! 
Never ! 

Never should little Miss Serb say to her- 
self, while her brain registered sensations 
of unutterable ecstasy, "I am the proud and 
happy mother of the finest and most beautiful 
doll in the whole wide world. I am the en- 
vied of all observers. I am It." 

Alas for the little Serbian ! Alas for the 
benevolent intentions of Kindly Neighbor. 
Frustrated ! Frustrated ! 

Now the question with me is, Who is the 
heroine of the tragedy? The little Serbian 
will never know of the happiness she has 1 



THE 

DE VALLY CLASSES 

IN OPERATIC AND LYRIC ART 

BLAKE & AMBER, Management 
ANTOINE V. K. DE VALLY, Director 

Studio and Recital Hall 

Eilers Building, 975 Market St. 

San Francisco, Cal. 
Phone Douglas 400 



missed, while Kindly Neighbor is smarting 
from a bitter disappointment. Perhaps, in 
dressing the doll, she appeased some obscure 
instincts she was unconscious she possessed. 
But it is the little Serbian who missed, by 
a hair's breadth, that supreme thrill of joy, 
that big moment which stamps itself on the 
memory for life, becoming a lodestar from 
j which to date all subsequent experiences of 
kind deeds and heart-warming experiences. 
That blissful moment might have been the 
tiny germ from which was to grow a faith 
and trust that would mould a humble life into 
harmonious expression. 

Yes, it is little Miss Serb, and not the child- 
less matron nor the motherless doll, who is 
the heroine of the tragedy. J. H. P. 



The soldiers of the Kaiser are very super- 
stitious, from the men in the ranks up to the 
Crown Prince. Wilhelm's eldest son carries 
a horseshoe with him on all his motor trips, 
and spends most of the day in his motor-car. 
The horseshoe is attached to one of the doors 
of the car, and when being photographed in 
his motor-car the prince always insists on the 
photographer "taking" the side of the car with 
the horseshoe. The soldiers of Wurtemberg 
pin their faith upon a little bag containing 
the dry pollen of flowers, which, they believe, 
has the power of warding off the bullets. 
The Saxons sew into the lining of their waist- 
coats the wings of a bat, and think them- 
selves to be invincible. The Bavarians hold 
on tenaciously to a still more bizarre cus- 
tom. Before going into battle each soldier 
finds a birch tree, cuts his skin, and lets a few 
drops of blood fall upon the tree. This cere- 
mony, they assert, assures recovery, no mat- 
ter what the nature of the wound, when the 
leaves begin to grow again. 



To make the Sioux Indian's inheritance of 
land more simple and secure, the United 
States government commissioned Dr. Charles 
A. Eastman to rename more than 15,000 with 
their family names. The task was a hard one. 
Where possible Dr. Eastman kept the original 
Sioux name of some member of a family, 
as in bestowing the name "Matoska," mean- 
ing "White Bear," on the family of that chief. 
The hardest task was in finding new names 
for the absurdities of Indian nomenclature. 
"Bobtailed Coyote" was a young Indian who 
has come to prefer himself as "Robert T. 
Wolf." After a long struggle with "Rotten 
Pumpkin," Dr. Eastman at last recorded the 
owner of the name on the tribal records un- 
der the noncommittal title of "Robert Pump- 
kin." 



At his laboratory one day, Thomas Edison 
called a new assistant to his desk. "I want 
you," he said, "to figure out the cubic contents 
of this electric light bulb." The young man 
went away and spent hours at his task, using 
all the mathematics at his command, fil- 
ling sheets of paper with his figures. Finally 
he went back to Edison with his answer. 
"Let's see if your right," said the big man. 
He broke the tip off the bulb, filled the thing 
with water then measured the water in a 
graduated glass. In two minutes he had done 
what his assistant had given most of a day 
to. This independence of formulae is one 
of the secrets of Edison's success. Isn't it the 
secret of success of most great men? 



The American administrators of the Virgin 
Isles have begun a campaign against the prac- 
tice of obi, the magic of the natives, which is 
common in some parts of the West Indies. 
This survival or revival of African beliefs 
not only reduces its victims to subordination 
to the *itch doctors, but interferes seriously 
with the affairs of government, and the fact 
that it is of great interest to students of folk- 
lore is held not to compensate for the injury 
it does. 



Very nearly 2,000,000 pounds of jam in 
papier-mache containers are sent to France 
from England every week, and in April this 
year the contracts department had ordered 
260,000.000 pounds. Twelve varieties are 
issued, among which strawberry largely pre- 
ponderates. Last year Australia, New Zea- 
land, and South Africa supplied 41,000,000 
pounds of jam. 



January 5, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



11 



FOYER AND BOX-OFFICE. 



Persioger to Appear with Symphony. 

Louis Persinger, the brilliant concertmaster 
of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, 
will be soloist at the seventh regular Sunday 
symphony concert, announced for the after- 
noon of January 6th at the Cort Theatre, un- 
der the direction of Alfred Hertz. 

The programme which was received with 
such favor on Friday afternoon at the Cort 
will be repeated in its entirety, though the 
prices will be just half those charged for the 
previous event. Persinger's wonderful vio- 
linistic art will again be displayed in that 
favorite of all concertos for violin and or- 
chestra, Mendelssohn's E minor Concerto. 

The orchestra alone will open the concert 
with "A Faust Overture," one of the few 
compositions written by Richard Wagner for 
concert purposes only, and a marvelous 
tragedy in miniature, based on the Goethe 
tale. Beethoven's Fifth Symphony will con- 
clude the concen 

The sixth "Pop" concert will be given on 
Sunday afternoon, January 13th, at the Cort, 
with the entire orchestra participating, and 
Emilio Puyans, flutist, as soloist. Puyans 
needs no introduction to local music lovers. 
This is his fifth season with the Hertz 
players. Godard's suite, op. 116, will be given 
at the "Pop" by Puyans with the orchestra. 
The remaining offerings of an ideal popular 
programme are : Overture, "Poet and Peas- 
ant," Suppe ; "Nutcracker Suite," Tschaikow- 
sky ; Three Slav Dances, Dvorak; "Serenade,'' 
Moszkowsky; overture, "William Tell." 



"Fair and 'Warmer" at the Cort. 

The latest farce by Avery Hopwood, "Fair 
and Warmer," will return to the Cort The- 
atre on Sunday evening, January 6th, after a 
triumphant tour of the United States. It 
comes under the direction of Selwyn & Co. 

"Fair and Warmer" tells a tale of how two 
highly respectable young persons, one a do- 
mesticated husband with never a thought be- 
yond his own hearthstone and the other a 
charming little wife whose sole idea of life 
has been gleaned from the tip of her mother's 
apron strings, suddenly discover that their 
respective partners in matrimony have been 
having times more gay then creditable, and 
with equal suddenness decide to be revenged. 
They can think of nothing better to do than 




ORCHESTRA 

Alfred Hertz Conductor. 

7th Sunday Symphony Concert 

Soloist— LOCI 3 PERSINGER 

Cort Theatre 

SUNDAY AFT., JAN. 6. at 2:30 Sharp 

Programme — "A Faust Overture," Wagner; 
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Mendels- 
sohn (Louis Persingerj; Fifth Symphony, Bee- 
thoven. 

Prices — Sunday, 50c, 75c, $1 ; box and loge 
seals. SI. 50. Tickets at Sherman, Clay & Co.'s 
except concert day; at Cort on concert day 
only. 



O 



RPBEUM o'EKSLfJEP 



Week Beginning This Sunday Afternoon 

Matinee Every Day 
A GREAT NEW ALL STAR BILL 

THE AVON COMEDY FOUR; HARRY 
GREEN and Players in "The Cherry Tree"; 
BERT SWOR, Blackface Comedian; ANNA 
CHANDLER, "Breaking Into Society": THE 
GAUDSMIDT BROS., Netherlands Eccentric 
Clowns, with Their Spanish Poodles; THE 
LEVOLOS, a Sensation on the Wire; ALEX- 
ANDER KIDS; McINTYRE and HEATH, 
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 
"THE GEORGIA MINSTRELS." Thursday. 
Friday and Saturday "WAITING AT THE 
CHURCH." 

Evening prices, 10c, 25c, 50c, 75c. Mati- 
nee prices (except Saturdays, Sundavs and 
holidays), 10c, 25c, 50c. Phone — Douglas 70. 



COLUMBIA THEATRE *%%£? 

^^Geary and Mason Su. Phone Franklin 160 

Second Week Begins Sunday, Jan. 6 

Matinees Wednesday and Saturday 

Winchell Smith and John L. Golden present 

"TURN 
TO 
THE 
RIGHT" 

The comedy that will live forever 



CQR£ 



Leading Theatre 
ELLIS AND MARKET 

Phone Sutter 2460 

Last time Sat. night — "Canary Cottage" 

Commencing Sunday Night, Jan. 6 

Selwyn and Company present 

"FAIR AND WARMER" 

America's Fastest and Funniest Farce 

With a Smashing Cast of Farceurs 

Night prices, 25c to $1.50 

BEST SEATS $1.00 WED. & SAT. MATS. 

Not Playing Oakland 



something as wicked as their spouses have 
been guilty of — having no practice in wicked- 
ness they find that they can not aim it very 
well. It is three acts of unflagging hilarity. 
In the perfect cast are Henry Stockbridge, 
Lillian Foster, Jack Hayden, Grace Benham, 
Alexandre J. Herbert. Bessie Brown, Thomas 
Springer, and Joseph A. Bingham. 



"Turn to the Right" at the Columbia. 

These are days of good cheer at the Co- 
lumbia Theatre, where *'Turn to the Right !" 
the sensational laughing hit of last season in 
New York and Chicago, is giving the Geary 
Street playhouse a most auspicious start on 
the New Year. Another week of the comedy 
record-smasher is announced, with matinees 
Wednesday and Saturday. 

Never in the history of the theatre has the 
laughter of audiences been so spontaneous, so 
frequent, or so prolonged. In fact the thread 
of the story* is often strained to the breaking 
point by the storms of merriment and ap- 
plause which interrupt the snappy dialogue of 
Joe Bascom, the erring son, and his crook 
comrades, "Slippery Muggs" and "Dynamite 
Gilly," during their plotting to save the Bas- 
com farm from the clutches of the skinflint 
Deacon Tillinger and to garner quich riches 
from the sale of Mother Bascom's justly cele- 
brated peach jam. 

But hilarity gives way to hushed stillness 
with each appearance of the saintly Mother 
Bascom, through whose love and Christian in- 
fluence the '"boys'" are restored to honesty and 
rectitude. Her untarnished sincerity lends an 
atmosphere of refreshing wholesomeness to 
the play. In the hands of Mabel Bert, white- 
haired and angelic, the role of Mother Bas- 
com is one of the most lovable ever intro- 
duced to a San Francisco audience. 



Maud Powell Next Great Artist to Attract. 

The Maud Powell programmes, which will 
be given at the Columbia Theatre tomorrow 
(Sunday) afternoon and on next Friday after- 
noon, are studded with musical gems. This 
fine artist stands at the front of American 
violinists, and ranks high among the great 
exponents of the instrument of whatever na- 
tionality. Tomorrow she will play the Alle- 
gro Moderato from the Sibelius Concerto in 
D minor, op. 47 ; Saint-Saens' magnificent D 
minor, op. 75, Concerto ; Fiorella's Prelude 
in C minor; Mozart's Rondo in G major; 
Cadman's Indian lyric, "Wah-wah-taysee" 
(Little Firefly), and Bazzini's "Dance of the 
Imps." Arthur Loesser, Miss Powell's as- 
sisting artist, will preside at the piano, and 
will render suitable aid in the great Saint- 
Saens work and will play the following soli 
numbers : Gigue in E minor, Loielly-Godow- 
sky ; "Song Without Words," Mendelssohn, 
and "La Campanella,"' Liszt-Paganini. 

Next Friday's programme will contain the 
big Arensky Concerto in A minor, op. 54 (in- 
troduced to this country by Miss Powell) ; 
Brahms' great Sonata in D minor, op. 108, 
with the assistance of Loesser at the piano ; 
Bach's Prelude in E major; Martini-Powell's 
"Love's Delight" ; Beethoven-Auer's "Marche 
Orientale" ; Dvorak-Powell's "Songs My 
Mother Sung" ; Gretchaninow's "Songs of 
Autumn," and Vieuxtemps' "Polonaise." 
Loesser's numbers will be the Chopin Ber- 
ceuse, Valse in A flat, op. 42, and Liszt's 
"Rakoczy March." 



The New Bill mt the Orpheum. 

The Orpheum bill for next week will in- 
clude seven entirely new acts. 

The Avon Comedy Four, the personnel of 
which is Goodwin, Kaufman, Smith, and Dale, 
will present a new skit called "A Hungarian 
Rhapsody." For years audiences have roared 
with laughter at the antics of this quartet 
and their songs are always received with en- 
thusiasm. 

Harry Green, who shares the headline 
honors, will appear in Aaron Hoffman's 
novelty skit, "The Cherry Tree," the motto 
of which is it is better to lie a little than 
to be unhappy much. Mr. Green will appear 
as George Washington Cohan, the strongest 
disciple of the Cherry tree fable, who falls 
from truth when he discovers that the whole- 
sale telling of it brings misery upon others. 
Mr. Green is supported by his own company. 

Bert Swor, blackface comedian, will intro- 
duce an entirely new monologue. 

Anna Chandler is a splendid comedienne 
whose songs are descriptive and exclusive. 
One of her numbers is entitled "Breaking 
into Society." Sam H. Sept, composer of 
Miss Chandler's music, will assist her at the 
piano. 

The Gaudsmidt Brothers hail from The 
Netherlands, and their two shaggy black 
poodles are Spanish. The brothers are eccen- 
tric clowns and pantomiimsts. 

The Levolos, Pat and Julia, will introduce 
a new sensation on the wire. 

The only holdovers on the bill will be the 
Alexander Kids and Mclntyre and Heath. 
The latter will present entirely new acts, ap- 
pearing Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and 
Wednesday in the greatest of all their suc- 



cesses, "The Georgia Minstrels," and Thurs- 
day and the remainder of the week in their 
travesty, "Waiting at the Church." 



The St. FrancU Little Theatre. 
The St. Francis Little Theatre Club will be- 
gin the second half of its season, after a two 
weeks' rest, on January Sth and 10th, with 
three little plays: "The Constant Lover," by 
Sir John Hankin, a charming comedy, with 
Miss Sullivan and Mr. Maitland ; "Bound 
East for Cardiff," a drama of the sea, by Eu- 
gene O'Neil, son of James O'Neil of "Monte 
Cristo" fame, in which Mr. Albert Morrison, 
a well-known leading man, will make his 
debut with the Maitland Players, and will now 
be a permanent member of this organization, 
and "Phipps," a satire by Stanley Houghton, 
as played by Holbrook Blinn at the Columbia 
several years ago. Members are now being 
rapidly enrolled for the second season. The 
membership is limited to 200, 



Godowsky to Give Concert. 
With only one concert announced for Leo- 
pold Godowsky it is assured that the Columbia 
Theatre will be crowded to its fullest capacity 
on Sunday afternoon, January 13th. Godow- 
sky's interpretations of the works of Bee- 
thoven, Brahms, Chopin, etc., are taken as the 
last words in music, and his concerts are as 
eagerly sought by his. brother artists as by 
the music public in general. As a composer, 
too, Godowsky is preeminent, and his own 
original works, as well as his arrangements 
for the piano of much of the fine old seven- 
teenth-century music, have brought him added 
fame and importance. A great programme 
will be played in this city, opening with the 
big Beethoven op. 110 Sonata in A flat. 
Brahms' Intermezzo, op. 76, No. 3, in A flat, 
and Rhapsody in E flat come next. Three 
numbers from his "Renaissance" are next on 
the list. These are the Minuet in G minor 
of Rameau, the Courante in E minor of Lully, 
and the Tambourin in E minor of Rameau. 
The Chopin group includes the Fantasie, op 
49, F minor. Waltz, op. 64, No. 3, in A flat. 
Berceuse, and Polonaise, op. 53, in A flat. 
Henselt's "Ave Maria." Blumenfeld's Etude, 
op. 36, in A flat (for the left hand alone), 
the Mendelssohn-Liszt "On the Wings of 
Song," Liszt's Polonaise, No. 2, in E major, 
and Godowsky's own Humoresque are also in- 
cluded in the offering. Manager Selby C. Op- 
penheimer is now accepting mail orders for 
the Godowsky concert, which should include 
current funds and 10 per cent, additional for 
the war tax. These will be filled in the order 
of their receipt. 



De Gogorza in Two Concerts. 
The announcement that Emilio de Gogorza 
is to appear at the Columbia Theatre on the 
Sunday afternoons of January 20th and 27th 
is already interesting the hundreds of ad- 
mirers that the artist has in this city. Man- 
ager Selby C. Oppenheimer of the Green- 
baum office, under whose auspices the De 
Gogorza concerts will be given, is already ac- 
cepting mail orders, and the indications are 
that the singer will be, as usual, greeted by 
great throngs at both events. Since his ap- 
pearances here De Gogorza has added largely 
to his already extensive repertory, and the 
promise is held out that the programmes that 
he will offer here will be specially attractive. 
De Gogorza is one of the few great artists 
that appeals alike to the ultra musical and to 
the merely casual concert-goer, hence the 
great vogue that he enjoys. 



Yvette Guilbert to Return. 
On Sunday afternoon. February 3d, Wednes- 
day night, February 6th, and Saturday after- 
noon, February 9th. Yvette Guilbert will again 
be in this city. The wonderful French song- 
actress so firmly established herself locally 
on her appearances last season that no exag- 
gerated comment is necessary at this time. 
The Guilbert recitals will take place at the 
Scottish Rite Auditorium, which is peculiarly 
adapted to the intimate art of the great 
Frenchwoman. Manager Selby Oppenheimer 
is already accepting mail orders for these 
events. 



Colonel Archibald Young, V. D., in a lec- 
ture given recently in Edinburgh, mentioned 
a curious incident of the recent British ad- 
vance towards Palestine. When the British 
troops were approaching a certain town in the 
desert a deputation of the natives came out 
to meet them. The headman of the deputa- 
tion asked for an interview with the British 
commander. In the course of the interview- 
he urged the claims of the natives to kind 
treatment, and mentioned that he had brought 
with him a document showing how well and 
honorably they had behaved On the last oc- 
casion on which their town was visited by 
European troops. He duly produced the doc- 

t ument, which was found to be all that he rep- 
resented it. It was signed "Napoleon Bona- 

; p-rte." : _ 




®Ip (Helton Peasant 

32-36 Geary Street 

SAN FRANCISCO | 



The Restaurant Refined 

Candies and Cakes of Character 

One of San Francisco's Unique 
Places, in which prevails the 
old-fashioned idea of providing 
excellent food and courteous 
service at moderate prices. 

Breakfast, Luncheon, Tea and Dinner 

Manufacturers of "Small Blacks" 



Minneapolis Symphony Returns in February. 
Emil Oberhoffer and the entire Minneapolis 
Symphony Orchestra, eighty-five artists strong, 
will renew their San Francisco and Oakland 
acquaintance with fine programmes on Thurs- 
day and Friday afternoons, February 7th and 
Sth, at the Columbia ; on Saturday afternoon 
and night, February' 9th, at the Auditorium 
Opera House in Oakland, and in a special pro- 
gramme on Sunday morning, February 10th, at 
the Tivoli Opera House. Reinald Werren- 
rath. the famous baritone, and Marguerite Na- 
mara, superb coloratura soprano, will be spe- 
cial soloists. 



During King George's recent visit to the 
north of England he very nearly became the 
victim of the early-closing order. An official 
of his suite visited a local baker's shop after 
closing hours and asked for bread. The 
baker's wife refused it, pointing out the 
reason. "But it is for the king," said the 
official, "and there isn't a bit of bread on the 
train." "I don't care if it is for the queen," 
was the reply ; "I dare not serve you." "But 
I demand it." "I am sorry," persisted the 
lady, "but I must refuse to serve you." 
"What can I do ?" asked the official. "You 
might see the police," was the suggestion. 
This was done, and the king got his bread, 
though, even so, the baker's conscience still 
obviously troubled him. 



MAUD 
POWELL 

Premier American Violinist 

Two Superb Programmes at 

Columbia Theatre 

TOMORROW (SUNDAY) AFT., at 2:30 

and NEXT FRIDAY AH., at 3 

Tickets $2. $1.50, $1. on sale at Sherman, Clay & 
Co.. Kohler and Chase, and Theatre. 
St-inway Piano. 





LEOPOLD 

ODOWSKY 



I A. TNI 1ST 

One Concert Only 

Extraordinary Programme 

COLUMBIA THEATRE 

SUNDAY AFT, JAN. 1 3 

Tickets $2, $1.50. $1. at above offices. 
Knabe Piano. 

EMILIO DE GOGORZA 

World Famous Baritone 
COLUMBIA TBEATRE-SUNDAY AFTS., JAN. 20-27 

Tickets $2. $1.50. $1. 

Mail Orders for above attractions to 
Oppenheimer, MgT.,care Sherman. Clay & Co- . 



St. Francis Little Theatre Club 

Direction of Mr. Arthur Maitland 

Colonial Ballroom, Hotel St. Francis 

Desires to state that the matinees which are 
given once a week by Mr. Maitland and a 
company of professional players are open to 
the public. Three playlets by the world's best 
authors are given on each programme. 



ADMISSION, ONE DOLLAR 

Evening performances are fo r members 
only. Application for member? le 

to the committee, Room 8T5. 
Hotel. 



THE ARGONAUT 



Januney 5, 1918. 



VANITY FAIR. 

If the writer of this column were so bold 
as to comment on the methods now in vogue 
for the entertainment of soldiers he would 
probably have cause to wish that he had 
never been born and to call upon the moun- 
tains to cover him. The entertainment of 
soldiers usually falls within the province of 
women. It is only innate depravity, what 
may be called congenital cussedness, that 
would criticize any single thing that is being 
done by any single woman who believes that 
she is making the world safe for democracy, 
or who believes that she believes it, which is 
the same thing. Men — poor, long-suffering, 
patient beasts — may be exhorted and urged 
prayerfully in the direction of sanity, but not 
women. The woman who knits a sweater 
with the subconscious and subliminal inten- 
tion to wear it herself is mysteriously able to 
experience the thrill of self-sacrifice and 
patriotic ardor, and even a smile becomes 
treason and is clamorously resented. 

Therefore the present writer, who is 
avowedly in a cowed and abject condition, 
takes shelter behind the high authority of 
Brigadier-General George R. Dyer, who says 
that what he does not know about soldiers is 
not knowledge, and who has attracted obloquy 
upon his devoted head by refusing to allow 
society ladies to give dances in certain East- 
ern armories. General Dyer approves of 
dances. He likes to think of the soldier 
cavorting gayly on the light fantastic with the 
lady of his choice. The soldier may not long 
have the opportunity. It is quite another sort 
of dance to which the soldier may be hasten- 
ing, and one in which ladies will not partici- 
pate. 

But the lady, says General Dyer, must be 
the choice of the soldier, and not of some 
one else. Unaccountably he prefers his own. 
We may deplore his taste, but there it is, you 
know, and what are you going to do about it? 
How would you like it yourself, asks General 
Dyer ? "Why should soldiers be expected to 
dance with "girls they had never seen before, 
who were not their friends or acquaintances 
or ever likely to be, who had been brought up 
with different surroundings, with different 
ideas? These girls were to be brought to the 
party and were to ask the soldiers to dance. 
Do you think the men would enjoy that?" In 
the words of the literary purist, not on your 
life. Soldiers, says General Dyer, are not 
freaks. Nor objects of charity. Let them 
dance until the welkin rings, whatever the 
welkin may be. But let them dance with 
their own ladies, in their own way, and ac- 
cording to their own ideas. They are not 
filled with a wild and hectic joy at the pros- 
pect of dancing with gorgeously dressed so- 
ciety girls. Indeed their estimation of the 
society girl might be a surprise to the society 
girL Just put yourself in the place of the 
soldier, says General Dyer: 

Suppose you were a soldier, just landed in 
London. You had some hours' leave, and you 
were glad of your bit of liberty, and you 
made up your mind you'd see the things in 
London that you'd always heard about. You 
had it all thought out as was perfectly 
natural, what you wanted to do. And then 
came a messenger from Buckingham Palace, 
commanding you to have tea with the queen ! 
Wouldn't it be awful ? That is the way it is 
when a company of charming ladies invite 
the soldiers in to dance with beautifully 
dressed rich young girls whom the men don't 
know. In the first place, dancing by order 
isn't what the soldier, in nine cases out of 
ten, wants to do. But in addition to that, 
do you suppose he enjoys it? His hands are 
dirty- — he knows it, and he doesn't like it ; 
his clothes are mussed — he doesn't like that 
either, but he has been sleeping in his uni- 
form these cold nights. His boots aren't all 
they should be, but he can't wear his other 
boots until these are worn out. He feels ill 
at ease, uncouth. He is not uncouth, but the 
chances are that he is being treated as if he 
were. He is stiff and uncomfortable. So is 
the girl he is dancing with. He wishes these 
kind, well-meaning people would let him 
alone. If he lives in New York he wants to 
be with his family or friends. If he is a 
stranger, there's a lot in New York he wants 
to see and hasn't had a chance to see yet. In 
any case, he gets mighty little liberty, and 
when he is on leave he wants to be allowed 
to do as he pleases, or entertained in a way 
he enjoys. How can he and this strange 
"girl enjoy dancing together? They are in 
danger of offending each other all the time, 
simply because they have been brought up 
differently. 

If you labor under the impression that the 

soldier does not know any girls it would be 

well to rid yourself of that impression. He 

does. If you labor under the still more fatal 

impression that the girls he knows are not 

good for him to know it would be well to 

rid yourself of that also, and incidentally to 

mind you; own business. You have no more 

right to censor his behavior than he has to 

censor yours. The army is not a social settle- 

t is not _ raw material for the up- 

-he soldier does not want you to ele- 

z.*_, and indeed you might have to go up 

:r or two before you could begin that 

If you want to do something for the 



soldier how would it be to start from a plat- 
form of good-fellowship, just plain, common 
or garden, everyday good-fellowship ? If it 
occurs to you to ask some soldiers to dinner, 
don't take it for granted that of course they 
want to come. Probably they don't. You 
wouldn't yourself, under such circumstances. 
You might even think that the invitation was 
a liberty. And don't invite girls. Don't 
think it necessary to provide amusements. 
And, above all, don't try- to do ijood to your 
guests. On the contrary try to get some good 
to yourself from them. In other words, be 
a gentleman, or a lady, as the case may be. 



Englishmen, says a New York writer, while 
they may have many other adorable qualities, 
do not, as a general rule, shine in the pos- 
session of tact. Its absence tends to mar the 
popularity that they would otherwise enjoy, 
since we always feel it incumbent upon our- 
selves to make allowances for their short- 
comings in this respect. A glaring illustra- 
tion thereof was given on Thursday last at 
the luncheon at the Hotel McAlpin in honor 
of the members of the Special Commission 
of the British Ministry of Munitions. Its 
chief. Sir Stephenson Kent, in responding to 
the mayor's felicitous speech of welcome, took 
occasion to remark that "when we don't like 
our government, we turn it out." Involun- 
tarily all eyes turned towards the mayor, who 
had been so overwhelmingly defeated less 

I than forty-eight hours previously. Observing 
this. Sir Stephenson, instead of passing 

. quickly on to some less delicate ground, ad- 
dressed himself to the mayor, and made mat- 
ters worse by explaining : "I was talking only 
of my own country." It is an explanation 
which can not have been altogether agreeable 
for one of his fellow-members of the mission. 
Captain Cyril Asquith, since the allusion was 
manifestly addressed to his own father, ex- 
Premier Asquith, whose administration was 
turned out last year to make way for the 
cabinet of David Lloyd-George. 



PARADIS POLISHES THE BOOTS. 



By Henry Barbussc. 



"Really and truly," said Paradis, my neigh- 
bor in the ranks, "believe me or not, I'm 
knocked out — I've never before been so paid 
on a march as I have been with this one this 
evening." 

His feet were dragging, and bis square 
shoulders bowed under the burden of the 
knapsack, whose height and big irregular out- 
line seemed almost fantastic. Twice he 
tripped and stumbled. 

Paradis is tough. But he had been run- 
ning up and down the trench all night as 
liaison man while the others were sleeping, 
so he had good reason to be exhausted and 
to growl "Quoi? These kilometers must be 
made of india-rubber, there's no way out 
of it." 

Every three steps he hoisted his knapsack 
roughly up with a hitch of his hips, and panted 
under its dragging ; and all the heap that he 
made with his bundles tossed and creaked 
like an overloaded wagon. 

"We're there," said a non-com. 

Non-coms, always say that, on every* oc- 
casion. But — in spite of the non-com. 's 
declaration — we were really arriving in a twi- 
light village which seemed to be drawn in 
white chalk and heavy strokes of black upon 
the blue paper of the sky, where the sable 
silhouette of the church — a pointed tower 
flanked by two turrets more slender and more 
sharp — was that of a tall cypress. 

But the soldier, even when he enters the 
village where he is to be quartered, has not 
reached the end of his troubles. It rarely 
happens that either the squad or the section 
actually lodges in the place assigned to them, 
and this by reason of misunderstandings and 
cross-purposes which tangle and disentangle 
themselves on the spot ; and it is only after 
several quarter-hours of tribulation that each 
man is led to his actual shelter of the mo- 
ment. 

So after the usual wanderings we were 
admitted to our night's lodging — a roof sup- 
ported by four posts, and with the four quar- 
ters of the compass for its walls. But it was 
a good roof — an advantage which we could 
appreciate. It was already sheltering a cart 
and a plow, and we settled ourselves by them. 
Paradis, who had fumed and complained with- 
out ceasing during the hours we had spent in 
tramping to and fro, threw down his knap- 
sack and then himself, and stayed there 
awhile, weary to the utmost, protesting that 
his limbs were benumbed, that the soles of 
his feet were painful, and indeed all the rest 
of him. 

But now the house to which our hanging 
roof was subject, the house which stood just 
in front of us, was lighted up. Nothing at- 
tracts a soldier in the gray monotony of even- 
ing so much as a window whence beams the 
star of a lamp. 

"Shall we have a squint ?" proposed Vol- 
patte. 

"So be it," said Paradis. He gets up grad- 



ually, and, hobbling with weariness, steers 
himself towards the golden window that has 
appeared in the gloom, and then towards the 
door. Volpatte follows him, and I Volpatte. 

We enter, and ask the old man who has 
let us in and whose twinkling head is thread- 
bare as an old hat, if he has anv wine to 
selL 

"No," replies the old man, shaking his 
head, where a little white fluff crops out in 
places. 

"No beer ? No coffee ? Anything at all " 

"No, mes amis, nothing of anything. We 
don't belong here ; we're refugees, you know." 

"Then, seeing there's nothing, we'll be off." 
We right-about face. At least we have en- 
joyed for a moment the warmth which per- 
vades the house and a sight of the lamp. 
Already Volpatte has gained the threshold and 
his back is disappearing in the darkness. 

But I espy an old woman, sunk in the depths 
of a chair in the other corner of the kitchen, 
who appears to have some busy occupation. 

I pinch Paradis' arm. "There's the belle 
of the house. Shall we pay our addresses to 
her?" 

Paradis makes a gesture of lordy indiffer- 
ence. He has lost interest in women — all 
those he has seen for a year and a half were 
not for him ; and, moreover, even when they 
would like to be his, he is equally uninterested. 

"Young or old — pooh!" he says to me, be- 
ginning to yawn. For want of something to 
do and to lengthen the leaving, he goes up 
to the good wife. "Good-evening, gran'ma," 
he mumbles, finishing his yawn. 

"Good-evening, mes enfants," quavers the 
old dame. 

So near, we see her in detail. She is 
shriveled, bent and bowed in her old bones, 
and the whole of her face is white as the 
dial of a clock. 

And what is she doing? Wedged between 
her chair and the edge of the table she is 
trying to clean some boots. It is a heavy 
task for her infantile hands ; their move- 
ments are uncertain, and her strokes with the 
brush sometimes go astray. The boots, too, 
are very dirty indeed. 

Seeing that we are watching her, she whis- 
pers to us that she must polish them well, 
and this evening, too, for they are her little 
girl's boots, who is a dressmaker in the town 
and goes off first thing in the morning. 

Paradis has stopped to look at the boots 
more closely, and suddenly he puts his hand 
out towards them. "Drop it, gran'ma ; I'll 
spruce up your lass' trotter-cases for you in 
three sees." 

The old woman lodges an objection by 
shaking her head and her shoulders. But 
Paradis takes the boots with authority, while 
the grandmother, paralyzed by her weakness, 
argues the question and opposes us with a 
shadowy protest. 

Paradis has taken a boot in each hand ; he 
holds them gingerly and looks at them for a 
moment, and you would even say that he was 
squeezing them a little. 

"Aren't they small!" he says in a voice 
which is not what we hear in the usual way. 

He has secured the brushes as well, and 
sets himself to wielding them with zealous 
carefulness. I notice that he is smiling, with 
his eyes fixed on his work. 

Then, when the mud has gone from the 
boots, he takes some polish on the end of the 
double-pointed brush and caresses them with 
it intently. 

They are dainty boots — quite those of a 
stylish young lady ; rows of little buttons 
shine on them. 

"Not a single button missing," he whispers 
to me. and there is pride in his tone. 

He is no longer sleepy ; he yawns no more. 
On the contrary, his lips are tightly closed; 
a gleam of youth and springtime lights up his 
face ; and he who was on the point of going 
to sleep seems just to have woke up. 

And where the polish has bestowed a beau- 
tiful black his fingers move over the body of 
the boot, which opens widely in the upper 
part and betrays — ever such a little — the 
lower curves of the leg. His fingers, so 
skilled in polishing, are rather awkward all 
the same as they turn the boots over and turn 
them again, as he smiles at them and pon- 
ders — profoundly and afar — while the old 
woman lifts her arms in the air and calls me 
to witness "What a very kind soldier !" he is. 

It is finished. The boots are cleaned and 
finished off in style ; they are like mirrors. 
Nothing is left to do. 

He puts them on the edge of the table, very 
carefully, as if they were saintly relics ; then 
at last his hands let them go. But his eyes 
do not at once leave them. He looks at them, 
and then lowering his head, he looks at his 
own boots. I remember that while he made 
this comparison the great lad — a hero by des- 
tiny, a Bohemian, a monk — smiled once more 
with all his heart. 

The old woman was showing signs of 
activity in the depths of her chair ; she had 
an idea. "Ill tell her! She shall thank you 
herself, monsieur ! Hey, Josephine !" she 
cried, turning towards a door. 

But Paradis stopped her with, an expansive 



gesture which I thought magnificent. "No. 
it's not worth while, gran'ma ; leave her where 
she is. We're going. We won't trouble her, 
allez !" 

Such decision sounded in his voice that it 
carried authority, and the old woman obe- 
diently -sank into inactivity and held her 
peace. 

We went away to our bed under the wall- 
less roof, between the arms of the plow that 
was waiting for us. And then Paradis began 
again to yawn : but by the light of the candle 
in our crib, a full minute later, I saw that the 
happy smile remained yet on his face. — From 
"Under Fire," by Barbusse. Published by E. 
P. Dutton & Co. 



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January 5, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



13 




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STORYETTES. 



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EXPORT AND IMPORT MERCHANTS 

SHIPPING 

230 CALIFORNIA STREET 

SAN FRANCISCO. CAL. 
Pordand. Ore. Londoo, Liverpool and Manchester 



Grave and Gay, Epierammatic and Otherwise. 

A number of conscientious objectors had 
arrived in France, and one of the number 
having a day off duty approached a kilted 
Highlander and said : "I'd rather go into a 
lunatic asylum than go into a kiltie regiment.'' 
"Aye, I've nae doot ye wid feel mair at home 
there," replied the Highlander. 



The Manchester Guardian tells a motoring 
story with a moral : A noble lord when leav- 
ing one of the official motor-cars asked the 
woman driver to come back at a certain hour. 
She replied, "All right." The noble lord then 
said, "I am accustomed to being called 'My 
lord.'" The woman driver replied: "And 
I am accustomed to being called 'My lady.' " 



A man once rang Russell Sage's bell in 
the middle of the night. "Mr. Sage, I can't 
sleep," he said. "What's that to me?" growled 
Russell, as he shivered in his nightshirt. "My 

note falls due tomorrow " "I know it 

does," snapped Sage. "And I want to tell 
you, sir, I can't sleep a wink because I can't 
pay it." "Go to the dickens !" roared Sage. 
"Now I can't sleep a wink, either." 



In a Georgia court the judge observed to 
the defendant : "You seem to have com- 
mitted a grave assault on plaintiff just be- 
cause he differed from you in an argument." 
"There was no help for it, your honor," said 
the offender. "The man is a perfect idiot." 
"Well, you must pay a fine of $10 and the 
costs, and in future you should try to under- 
stand that idiots are human beings, the same 
as you and me." 



"He's perfectly quiet, ladies," remarked the 
jobmaster to the two girls who were about to 
hire a pony and trap, "only you must take 
care to keep the rein off his tail." "We 
won't forget," they replied. When they re- 
turned the jobmaster inquired how they had 
got on. "Splendidly," they exclaimed. "We 
had one rather sharp shower, but we took it 
in turns to hold the umbrella over the horse's 
tail, so there was no real danger." 



A very pretty but extremely slender girl 
entered a street-car and managed to seat her- 
self in a very narrow space between two men. 
Presently a portly colored mammy entered 
the car, and the pretty miss, thinking to hu- 
miliate the men for their lack of gallantry, 
arose. "Aunty," she said, with a wave of her 
hand toward the place she had just vacated, 
"take my seat." "Thank you, missy," replied 
the colored woman, smiling broadly, "but 
which gen* man's lap was you sittin' on ?" 



Wayne McVeagh, the lawyer and diplomat, 
has on the outskirts of Philadelphia an ad- 
mirable stock farm. One day last summer 
some poor children were permitted to go over 
his farm, and when their inspection was done, 
to each of them was given a glass of milk. 
The milk was excellent. It came, in fact, 
from a two-thousand-dollar cow. "Well, boys, 
how do you like it?" the farmer said, when 
they had drained their glasses. "Fine!" said 
one little fellow. Then, after a pause, he 
added : "I wisht our milkman kep' a cow." 



Being a young man, he was telling a young 
woman all his troubles. It took him a long 
time, and the evening wore away. He ex- 
plained how he had happened to lose his last 
position, and how he couldn't seem to get a 
foothold in another. She sighed, and he took 
it for a sigh of sympathy — maybe it was. "I 
am confident that I could make a success," he 
said, "if I could only get a start." She 
glanced at the clock. "I can help you," she 
declared. His eyes lighted with a new hope. 
"I can get your hat and coat," she continued. 



A writer in the Charity Organization Re- 
view, deprecating the way people talk of "the 
drab lives of the poor" as greatly a class mis- 
understanding, repeats a story of some East 
End girls (matchbox makers) who were taken 
down to Surrey to spend a summer day in 
a beautiful house and garden in a lovely part 
of the country. When their hostess was 
wishing them "good-by," she said she had 
much enjoyed their visit, and one guest re- 
plied, cheerfully: "I expect we have cheered 
you up a bit ; it must be deadly dull down 
here." 



A telephone subscriber in Newark asked 
his operator to ring his bell in three minutes, 
and immediately hung up his receiver. At 
the appointed time the supervisor rang on the 
line and the subscriber responded merely with, 
"Thank you." Later he called again to thank 
the operator, and explained that he had been 
boiling eggs and wanted to time them. They 
had been cooked to the queen's taste, he said. 
Another operator tells of an out-of-town call 
from a coin box. The operator told the lady 



who called to deposit 1 cents for five 
minutes' talk. She replied in great excite- 
ment : "Oh, Central, I put the money in the 
wrong slot ! I had my gloves on and I 
couldn't see." 



Little Tommy, who is of rather an inquir- 
ing turn of mind, and who had been gazing 
at his father's somewhat rosy countenance for 
some time, at last said: "Papa, what makes 
your face and nose so dre'fly red?" "The 
east wind, of course," answered papa rather 
hastily. "Do not talk so much, Thomas, and 
pass me the beer." It was then that a voice 
came from the other end of the table in dul- 
cet tones, saying: "Thomas, dear, pass your 
papa the east wind, and be careful not to spill 
it on the clean cloth." 



The plaintiff in giving his evidence halted 
and hemmed and stuttered. The principal wit- 
ness for the defendant was what they call 
"fresh" and managed to interlard his testi- 
mony with his opinion on collateral matters 
greatly to the annoyance of the attorney for 
the plaintiff. When that gentleman came to 
cross-examine the witness and received two 
or three replies that verged on being imperti- 
nent he lost his temper and said to the wit- 
ness : "You claim to know everything. Do 
you know what made Balaam's ass speak?" 
"I reckon," replied the witness, "that Balaam 
was a stutterin' man, and his ass spake for 
him." The cross-examination closed. 



THE MERRY MUSE. 



In Dutch. 
I can not sing some old songs — although I loved 

'em so; 
"Der Freischutz" and "Die Lorelei," they both 

have got to go. 
I must forget those callow days when in a voice 

so fine 
I used to make the welkin ring with that old 

"Wacht am Rhein." 
"Ich Liebe Dich" no longer, for you have a 

Prussian strain. 
While I am strong for "Dixie," "Ich Grolle 

Nicht" is pain. 
"Gotterdammerung" the Kaiser and likewise 

"Edelweiss." 
*'Hi-Li-Hi-Lo" "Fliegt Heim" I know upon their 

heads a price. — Los Angeles Times. 



"Oh 



War Aims. 
In billets down the line one afternoon, 
As Bill and me and most of our platoon 
Was do2in' like, some blighter starts to jaw: 
"I wonder what the 'ell we're fightin' for!" 
"England," ses Bill. "For liberty," ses I. 
Ses Dan (the shepherd), "For my flock" — 

my!" 
Shouts Pauper Pete, 'ho 'adn't a sou to chink, 
"I'll fight to save my dollars, I don't think." 
"We're fighting 'cos there's Belgium still to win." 
"I'm out for blood — Zepps done my cottage in." 
Then Cockie ('e's a poet) 'as 'is say: 
"I fight," he ses, "to scare Black Night away, 
And when my voice is heard for miles around 
The Dawn will break at that victorious sound." 
"It's stripes I want." "A ribbon's more to me." 
"I'm out to save my *ome acrost the sea." 
"It's Mother most I'm fightin' for," ses Jim, 
And Ginger said the kids come first with 'im. . . . 
Just near us, listenin* careless as we spoke, 
A chap stood readin", quite a youngish bloke, 
And some one shouts: "Wot 'o, my learned 

friend, 
Wot's your opinion? 'Oo do you defend? 
Wot sort o' name d'you call old England by? 
Wot makes it worth your bloomin' while to die?" 
The bloke just shows 'is book, and barely heedin', 
"Shakespeare," he ses, and coolly goes on readin". 
— S. C. Roberts, in Westminster Gazette. 



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THE CONNECTICUT 

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BENJAMIN J. SMITH - - - Manager 
Fked'k S. Dick, Assistant Manager 



BONESTELL & CO. 

PAPER 

The paper used in printing the Argonaut ii 

furnished by us 

CALIFORNIA'S LEADING PAPER HOUSE 

118 to 124 First Street, corner Minna, 

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Press Clippings 

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14 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 5, 1918. 



ofaifcy 

NEW YORK: 

48 East 57th Street 



Chinese Antiques 

SAN FRANCISCO : 

284 Post Street 



PERSONAL. 

Notes and Gossip. 
A chronicle of the social happenings dur- 
ing the past week in the cities on and around 
the Bay of San Francisco will be found in 
the following department : 

The marriage of Miss Helen Hooper and Cap- 
tain Curtis O'Sullivan was solemnized Saturday 
afternoon in Portland. Miss Ursula Hooper at- 
tended her sister as maid of honor and Mr. Joseph 
Hooper, Jr.. was best man. Mrs. O'Sullivan is 
the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph G. Hooper 
and the sister of Mrs. Joseph Hutchinson. Miss 
Ursula Hooper, Miss Katherine Hooper, Mr. 
Joseph Hooper. Jr., Mr. Pardow Hooper, and Mr. 
George Hooper. Captain O'Sullivan is the son of 
Mrs. Denis O'Sullivan and the brother of Miss 
Biddy O'Sullivan and of Mr. Terence O'Sullivan. 
He is the grandson of Mrs. James Marvin Curtis. 
Captain O'Sullivan and his bride will reside at 
Tacoma for the present. 

The marriage of Miss Margaret Rolph and Cap- 
tain Philip Finnell was solemnized Tuesday after- 
noon at the home of the bride on Arguello Boule- 
vard. Miss Doris Wirtner was the maid of honor 
and Lieutenant Dana McEwen was the best man. 
Mrs. Finnell is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 
William Rolph. Captain Finnell is the only son 
of Mr. and Mrs. Bush Finnell. At the conclusion 
of their wedding trip Captain Finnell and Mrs. 
Finnell will reside in the southern part of the 
state, the former being at present stationed at 
Camp Kearny. 

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Welch gave a tea New 
Year's Day at their home on Broadway. 

Mr. and Mrs. John G. Johnston entertained a 
number of friends at an egg-nog party Tuesday 
at their home on Pacific Avenue. 

Miss Ellita Adams was a luncheon hostess of 
last Friday, entertaining a group of friends at 
her home in Piedmont in compliment to Miss 
Jessie Knowles. The guests included Miss Kathe- 
rine Bentley, Miss Margaret Madison, Miss Sally 
Long, Miss Geraldine King, Miss Betty Merrill, 
Miss Elizabeth Watt, Miss Sally Havens, Miss 
Therese Williams, Miss Margaret Buckbee, Miss 
Elizabeth Magee, and Miss Elizabeth Bliss. 

Mrs. Horace Morgan entertained at a children's 
party last Friday afternon in honor of her son, 
Master William Morgan. On Friday evening 
Mrs. Morgan was hostess at a dance for the 
friends of her daughter. Miss Eleanor Morgan. 

Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Lent gave a dinner Satur- 
day evening at the Fairmont Hotel for their 
daughters, the Misses Frances and Ruth Lent. 

Mr. and Mrs. Wickham Havens gave a dinner- 
dance at the Palace Hotel on Friday evening in 
honor of their daughter, Miss Sally Havens. 
Among the guests were Miss Betty Folger, Miss 
Elena Folger, Miss Sally Long, Miss Elizabeth 
Adams, Miss Margaret Henderson, Miss Amy 
Long, Lieutenant Charles Sutton, Mr. Leon 
Walker, Mr. Maurice Clarke, Mr. Bruce Hamil- 
ton, and Mr. Leon Carter. 

Mr. and Mrs. Willis Walker gave a dinner- 
dance Thursday evening at the Palace Hotel in 
honor of their son, Mr. Leon Walker. The guests 
included Miss Kate Crocker, Miss Flora Miller, 
Miss Betty Folger, Miss Alice Claire Smith, Miss 
Elizabeth Adams, Miss Helen St. Goar, Miss Sally 
Havens, Miss Jean Wheeler, Miss Cornelia Clam- 
pett, Lieutenant George Young, Mr. Frederick 
Tillmann, Mr. Edward Fox, Mr. Francis Lang- 
ton, Mr. Clark Crocker, Mr. Robert Clampett, 
Ensign Orel Goldarcena, Mr. Howard Spreckels, 
Mr. Francis Clark, and Mr. Lawrence Gray. 

Mr. and Mrs. George W. McNear gave a dinner- 
dance last Thursday evening at their home on 
Jackson Street, their guests including- Mr. and 
Mrs. C. O. G. Miller, Mr. and Mrs. Bernard 
Ford. Mr. and Mrs. Cyril Tobin, Mr. and Mrs. 
Kenneth Moore, Mr. and Mrs. E. O. McCormick, 
Mr. and Mrs. George Nickel, Mr. and Mrs. Willis 
Walker, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick McNear, Mr. and 
Mrs. Philip Bowles, Mr. and Mrs. Swift Train, 
Mr. and Mrs. George Bowles, Captain Charles 
Goodall and Mrs. Goodall, Miss Helen St. Goar, 
Miss Cornelia Clampett, Miss Gretchen von Phul, 
Miss Elena Eyre, Miss Kate Crocker, Miss Julia 
Van Fleet, Miss Winifred Braden, Miss Flora 
Miller, Miss Marion Crocker, Miss Elizabeth 
Adams, Mr. Lawrence Gray, Mr. Leon Walker, 
Mr. Clark Crocker, Mr. Arthur Goodall, Mr. 
George W. McNear, Jr., Mr. Francis Langton, 
Mr. Donald Clampett, Mr. Francis Clark, Mr. 
Frederick Tillmann, Mr. Howard Spreckels, Mr. 
Edward Fox, and Mr. Robert Clampett. 

Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Fleishhacker were hosts 
at dinner Thursday evening, complimenting Mr. 
and Mrs. Willis Walker. The affair took place at 
the Hotel St. Francis. 

Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Jackling entertained a 
number of friends at dinner New Year's night at 
the Hotel St. Francis. 

Miss Margaret Deahl gave a dinner Friday even- 
ing at her home on Washington Street, her guests 
including Misq Aileen McNutt, Miss. Marie Lnuise 
Potter, Miss Eleanor Spreckels, Miss Ruth Lent, 
Miss Helen Hawkins, Miss Adelaide Sutro, Miss 
Eleanor Morgan, Miss Adrienne Sharp, Miss Fran- 



WANTED 

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Must know music. Refer- 
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-rgo. -iut, 207 Powell Street. 



cesca Deering, Mr. Francis Clark, Mr. Allan 
Drum, Mr. Gordon Hitchcock, Mr. Frank Drum, 
Mr. Calvin Tilden, Mr. Marshall Hale, Mr. Ber- 
nard Dohrmann, Mr. Jack Sutton, Mr. Burbank 
Sommers, and Mr. Bruce Dohrmann. 

Miss Kate Crocker gave a luncheon Monday at 
her home on Laguna Street, complimenting Miss 
Flora Miller. The guests included Miss Elena 
Eyre, Miss Gretchen von Phul, Miss Jean Wheeler, 
Miss Doris Durrell, Miss Betty Folger, Miss Elena 
Folger, Miss Marion Crocker, Miss Mary Board- 
man. Miss Marita Rossi, Miss Julia Van Fleet, 
Miss Helen Garritt, Miss Mary Gorgas, Miss 
Marie Louise Winslow, Miss Gertrude Hunt, Miss 
Dorothea Coon, Miss Alice Claire Smith, Miss 
Emelie Tubbs, Miss Helen St. Goar, Miss Alice 
Hanchett, and Miss Elizabeth Adams. 

Mr. Clark Crocker was host at a dinner-dance 
Saturday evening at his home on Laguna Street. 

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Clarence Breeden enter- 
tained a number of friends at a dinner and theatre 
party last Friday evening. 

A Horse Show was held Saturday afternoon 
at the Riding Club for the benefit of the Red Star 
Animal Relief. 

Mr. and Mrs. H. M. A. Miller gave a supper- 
dance Tuesday evening at the Fairmont Hotel. 



Movements and 'Whereabouts. 
Annexed will be found a resume of move- 
ments to and from this city and Coast and 
the whereabouts of absent Californians: 

Captain Laurance Scott and Mrs. Scott passed 
the Christmas holidays at their home in LSur- 
lingame. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Ford have gone to San 
Antonio, Texas, where the former has joined the 
Aviation Corps. 

Mr. and Mrs. Webb Ballard arrived recently 
from their home in Montana and have been guests 
of the latter's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Clinton Jones, 
at their home on Buchanan Street. 

Judge Edgar Zook and Mrs. Zook returned 
Wednesday to their home in San Rafael, after 
having passed the Xraas season in town with 
Judge Charles Slack and Mrs. Slack at their home 
on Sacramento Street. 

Mrs. Charles Hopkins has been passing several 
days at' Del Monte en route to her home in Santa 
Barbara, after a sojourn of several weeks in the 
East. 

Mr. and Mrs. Archibald Tinning have been 
spending several days in San Francisco from their 
home in Martinez. 

Mrs. Joseph A. Donohoe and her daughters are 
visiting in Coronado with Mrs. Joseph A. Dono- 
hoe, Jr. 

Mr. Edgar Eyre arrived recently from New 
York to pass a few days in San Francisco with his 
brother, Mr. Edward Eyre, Jr. 

Mrs. Wallace Bertholf is passing the winter at 
Annapolis, Commander Bertholf being on duty in 
Atlantic waters. 

Mrs. Foster Gretton is in England at present, 
staying with her father in Sherborne, Dorset. 
Major Gretton is stationed in France. 

Miss Josephine Ross has been visiting her 
brother-in-law and sister, Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd 
Butler, at their ranch near Ventura during the 
holiday season. 

Mrs. Henry Ach has been passing several days at 
American Lake with her son, Mr. James Ach. 

Mrs. William G. Henshaw and her daughter, 
Mrs. Alia Henshaw Checkering, passed the holi- 
days in New York. 

Mrs. Frank Johnson and her son, Lieutenant 
Gordon Johnson, have been bpending several days 
at Del Monte. 

Mrs. Stetson Winslow and her daughter, Miss 
Marie Louise Winslow, have gone to Coronado 
for a sojourn of several weeks. 

Lieutenant Edward H. Clark and Mrs. Clark 
have taken an apartment on Union Street for the 
remainder of the wintei 

Mr. and Mrs. Piatt Kent have been spending 
several days at Del Monte from their home on 
Green Street. 

Dr. Washington Dodge, with Mrs. Dodge and 
Miss Veida Dodge, left Thursday for New York, 
where they will remain indefinitely. 

Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Knight have taken an 
apartment at Stanford Court for the rest of the 
winter season. 

Mrs. James Carolan and her daughter. Miss 
Emily Carolan, have taken an apartment on 
Powell Street. 

Mrs. Sayre McNeil has taken an apartment at 
Stanford Court, where she will reside for several 
months. 

Mr. and Mrs. George Newhall have closed 
their home in Burlingame and are spending several 
weeks at the Hotel St. Francis. 

Mr. and Mrs. Joel Kaufman have left for Camp 
Jacksonville, Florida, where the former has been 
ordered for duty. 

Mrs. William Baggett of Washington arrived 
in San Francisco a few days ago to meet her sun- 
in-Iaw and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. George F. 
Mitchell, who have just returned from the Orient. 
Miss Jeannette Bertheau is visiting in Coronado 
with Mrs. Stetson Winslow and Miss Marie Louise 
Winslow. 

Mr. Louis Bruguiere, who is at present in Wash- 
ington, will leave in the near future for England, 
having recently been appointed to the American 
embassy there. 

Mr. and Mrs. Frederick S. Myrtle have closed 
their home in Ross and will pass the winter 
months in an apartment at 722 Taylor Street. 

■*•* — 

Mr. and Mrs. Leroy Woodhead are being 
congratulated upon the birth of a daughter 
at their home in Ukiah. 



Henry Bernstein. 
Those who have followed Henri Bernstein's 
career in France will remember that the pro- 
duction of his "Apres Moi" at the Comedie 
Francaise, in 1912, aroused a storm of protest 
from the anti-Semitic group of Frenchmen 
led by Leon Daudet. It was the first of Bern- 
stein's plays to receive this national recogni- 
tion, and Daudet and his following were in- 
censed that such an honor as a presentation 
in the Comedie Francaise should be awarded 
a Jew. Ostensibly, however, the protest was 
based on the fact that Bernstein was tech- 
nically a foreigner, being a naturalized Rou- 
manian. "Shall France award such distinc- 
tion," said Daudet, "to an outsider, a man 
who has not even served his term of mili- 
tary service for the state?" At the hearing 
on the case, which had resolved itself into 
one of those frantic public scandals with 
which France was exciting herself previous to 
the war, Bernstein arose in his own defense, 
and, in a speech which had all the elements 
of drama which he had ever put in the most 
impassioned speech of the most wronged hus- 
band in his most triangular play, he declared: 
"It is true that I was born in Roumania. It 
is true that I was naturalized too late to 
serve in the national army. But, on the day 
when France is attacked, I will be the first to 
offer myself in her defense !" And he did. 
It was from his war experience that his pres- 
ent play, "L'Elevation" was drawn. 



Mr. and Mrs. Spencer Grant are being con- 
gratulated upon the birth of a son. 



The. Kaiser recently sent to the Pope as a 
Christmas present "a rare copy of the Old 
Testament, hand-copied by a community of 
German monks in the middle ages." 



"Other Times ." 

Where are the games of yesteryear, 

The cribbage match, the staid croquet — 
Where is the quaint, old-fashioned dear, 

Why is the Sport Girl of today? 

Across the tiny croquet green 

Trundled poor grandpa's luckless ball, 
(But, "neath the hoop-skirt he had seen 

The daintiest ankle of them all!) 
Now, down the muddy polo field 

Sweeps grandpa's child, on her pony, 
While experts watch her game and yield 

Her stunning — but a trifle bony! 

On Winter evenings, long ago, 

She pondered over "fifteen four," 
He watched her in the candle glow, 

And quite forgot to peg the score. 
Now, talk of "honors," "slams," "revokes" 

Falls glibly from granddaughter's lips, 
Or notice, midst the slang and jokes, 

The offhand way she sorts the chips! 

l'envoi. 
Prince, (for whatever be the date, 

There's always one for every maid!) 
Who ambled, hopeful of your fate, 

Through endless games, demure and staid — 
You never leaped aside, poor dear, 

To dodge the furious auto-ped — 
Where are the games of yesteryear? 

("Perhaps it's well that they are dead!") 
— Gabriclle Elliott, in New York Times. 



There have been several freak newspapers 
printed which were most entertaining in their 
day. One of the most remarkable was the 
Luminara, published in Madrid. It was 
printed with ink containing phosphorus, so 
that the paper could be read in the dark. An- 
other curiosity was called the Regal, printed 
with non-poisonous ink on thin sheets of 
dough, which after being carefully perused, 
could be eaten, thus furnishing nourishment 
for body as well as mind. Le Bien-Elre prom- 
ised those who subscribed for forty years a 
pension and a free burial. 



Advices from Midland, Michigan, tell of the 
first production of indigo from coal tar in the 
United States. One thousand pounds of 20 
per cent, paste are produced daily. The an- 
nual consumption of indigo in normal times 
is in the neighborhood of 10,000,000 pounds. 
By 1912 the German makers of the coal-tar 
indigo, which is chemically the same as the 
product of the tropical indigo plants, had 
driven the natural product from the world's 
markets. The artificial is considered better 
and more reliable than the natural dye. 



Captain Alexander J. Dubois, from France 
on his way home to Australia, is registered 
at the Whitcomb. Lieutenant-Colonel G. V. 
Packer with his wife, from Fort Riley, Kan- 
sas, is also registered at the Whitcomb. 
Other arrivals include Mr. S. M. McCurran 
of Washington, D. C, and Mr. C. Kiernan of 
Buenos Aires, Argentina. 



An official minute has passed the British 
Parliament, placing on record the high appre- 
ciation of the Lords of the Treasury of the 
spontaneous and generous gifts of Jamaica 
in making provision toward the cost of the 
war of about $300,000 a year for a period of 
forty years from the termination of the war. 



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Phone Sutter 4610 



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January 5, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



15 



TRAVELING TREES. 

Veeetation That Moves from Place to Place. 

Noting the fact that before the modern era 
of steam and electricity the history of man- 
kind was largely a history of his migration, 
and that tribes changed in color and size as 
they moved about, Royal Dixon and Franklyn 
Everett Fitch, in a book on the wonders of 
the tree world, observe that "the same is true 
of trees. When they are content to stay 
quietly at home, they go on reproducing them- 
selves in the same old way for generations. 
As soon as individuals or even extensive 
groups among them travel a bit they undergo 
marvelous changes in the lands of their adop- 
tion. The tiny dogwood, scarcely six inches 
tall in Alaska, becomes a sixty-foot giant in 
Texas and Florida. In the Far North the 
honey locust is little more than -a shrub. On 
reaching the Southern United States it be- 
comes a medium-sized tree, wonderfully de- 
fended by thorns and prickles. In the still 
more luxurious climate of South America it 
develops into an immense structure all bristly 
with vegetable spears and daggers and with a 
defensive army of ants." 

"Moreover, traveling trees are not merely 
globe-trotters. They travel by rule and 
method. They make geography every day. 
. . . Such trees as the pines, ashes, elms, 
cottonwoods, and sycamores migrate in vast 
armies, and, like the barbarian hordes of 
mediaeval Europe, overrun the territories of 
neighboring kingdoms, there to be swallowed 
up by strongly entrenched first-comers, or 
themselves eventually to supplant the original 
inhabitants. 

"It must not be imagined that these tree 
movements are things of the past. They are 
going . on. today. Within -a generation- -the 
wild red cherry has spread from the Eastern 
to the Western United States. Botanists who 
accompanied early government exploring ex- 
peditions failed to find any specimens of this 
tree in Kansas and Nebraska. In many parts 
of the country second and third growth trees 
are entirely unrelated to the original timber. 
The Catskill Mountains when first visited by 
white men were largely covered by spruce 
and hemlock. Such areas as have been cut 
over have nearly always been taken posses- 
sion of by beech, apple, and birch ; and of 
late years it has been noticed that poplars 
and aspens show a strong disposition to grow 
up in abandoned clearings. 

"Just how do trees travel ? It would be a 
mighty and awe-inspiring spectacle to see a 
great forest striding across the country, but 
except in some such case as Macbeth's Bir- 
nam Wood, this has not been recorded as 
ever taking place. . . . They prefer to 
travel in embryo, and, by means of tiny fruits 
and seeds light enough. to fly through the air 
or float on the water, transport future for- 
ests half-way around the globe. 

"Flying, which is man's weakest and latest 
art, is the trees' favorite transportation de- 
vice. They have many types of flying ma- 
chines, and though they depend on the wind 
for propulsion, they are often able to send 
their seeds to greater distances than the 
motor-driven aeroplane has ever flown. All 
summer long a great many trees devote their 
energy to maturing their seeds and providing 
them with some sort of a flying apparatus. 
Those of the ash have paper-like wings. The 
seeds of the elms and maples are equipped 
with membranes as gauzy and delicate as 
those of a dragon fly. Willow, poplar, and 
catalpa seeds are attached to tiny balloons. 
Hop tree seeds have a kit-like appendage. 
The spruces, firs, larches, hemlocks, pines, 
and birches produce winged seeds. The al- 
ders, tulips, ashes, and elms send forth 
winged boxes — single seeds occupying entirely 
matured pistils. The parachute-equipped seeds 
of the pine are given an encouraging push 
into the world with the bursting of the cone. 
The exploding pods of the wisteria and 
witch-hazel fairly hurl their children out up- 
on the breeze. Masses of beautifully plumed 
seeds float from the willows and poplars. 

"The nuts are enthusiastic sailors. Not a 
few are built along nautical lines, and when 
dropped into the water become seaworthy 
boats. The cocoanut, the cashew, and the 
mahogany all make ocean voyages. Cocoa- 
nuts are covered with a thick husk, and this 
husk has a waterproof envelope of hairs. 
As they float the three 'eyes' seem always to 
remain on top. As soon as the nut falls into 
the water a tiny shoot peeps from one of 
these eyes and sends forth big leaves, which 
act as sails to waft the craft along. Finally 
roots begin to peep forth from the other two 
eyes, and in a short time this lucky passenger 
with sails and roots is ready to land on an 



island and start developing into a genuine 
cocoanut tree. The cocoanut is such a good 
sea traveler that it has planted colonies on 
almost every 'reef in the warmer waters. 
However, the cashew excels it in marine 
equipment. The cashew has a double hull 
and an inner skin. Between the outer and 
the inner shells circulates a black, waterproof 
juice, which Maud Going aptly terms 'calking 
between decks.' The bladdernut lacks this 
equipment, but possesses water-tight compart- 
ments, which have no bulkhead doors for a 
captain to remember to close. There are 
other nuts and seeds which buoy themselves 
up with air chambers and oily skins. 

"It is quite certain that these tree-voyagers 
make trips quite as long as those of men. 
The Japanese black currant is continually 
landing Asiatic seeds on the shores of Ore- 
gon and Washington. A certain West In- 
dian seed of large dimensions drifts to the 
shores of the Hebrides. These are small 
craft, but exceedingly seaworthy. Even the 
frost-filled wastes of the north offer no bar- 
rier to the tree-travelers. Propelled by the 
strong winds of these regions, trees like the 
honey locust send tiny ice-boats scudding 
across the frozen landscape at a mile-a- 
minute speed, while others stick to the 
slower and more common air route. 

"While it is true that trees never walk 
across the landscape at a speed which is 
visible to the eye, they do by the slower 
processes of growth actually move over the 
surface of the earth. Sometimes they do 
their traveling under ground, like the rubber 
and persimmon trees, which . . . send out 
long side roots that form bases from which 
new trees spring. . . . The mangrove does 
the same thing above ground. Standing 
knee-deep in water, it often sends down 
shoots_-from its arms, which, taking rpot, are 
the beginnings of a new tree. The willow 
bends over till one of its branches takes root. 

"Full-grown trees may not actually walk 
across the landscape, but they do swim. 
There are many records of floating islands, 
which not only make voyages up and down 
rivers, but occasionally embark on ocean 
trips. At the mouth of the Amazon sections 
of land frequently break off and float se- 
renely out to sea . . . and there have 
been observed instances when they reached 
port safely. Nautical movements on inland 
waters are more apt to be successful. The 
trees which grow on such floating islands 
may be said to travel in the most literal sense 
of the word." 



San Sebastian stands almost alone as a 
famous cosmopolitan watering place upon 
which the shadow of the war is scarcely cast. 
Existence there proceeds almost exactly as 
usual. The season, although it seemed to start 
a little late, is one of the best, and at an 
early stage it was calculated that there were 
more than 3000 visitors in excess of the num- 
ber at the same time last year. The concha 
is crowded in the mornings with bathing par- 
ties and others, and in the afternoons the 
boulevards and the terrace of the Casino are 
gay as ever. As a result of the war the 
season certainly suffers considerably from the 
absence of a good part of the cosmopolitan 
element, largely French and American, and it 
is dependent chiefly on the human resources 
of Spain itself, but there are quite as many 
of the aristocratic families as ever there were, 
and the humbler folk follow them in their 
thousands. The absence of the aliens in- 
evitably means a considerable decrease in the 
income, and this is made the excuse for certain 
apparent neglect on the part of the Ayunta- 
miento, for some say they notice an occasional 
untidiness in the streets which did not- exist 
before. "It has been declared of San Sebas- 
tian that a lady might cross the streets in 
dancing slippers immediately after a heavy 
rain without marking them with mud, but 
that is hardly true at the moment. Still one 
has to look for these differences to find them. 
One hears little of the war, and the general 
attitude of the visitors, encouraged by the 
local people, is to ignore it as much as pos- 
sible at this time of recuperation and enjoy- 
ment, and to do the same with the difficult 
internal politics of Spain herself. 
<>» 

A Japanese-Greek Association has been 
formed recently, of which the respective presi- 
dents are Marquis Okuma and M. Venizelos. 
It is proposed to open a permanent exhibition 
at Athens, in which Japanese products will be 
on view. It is further reported that after 
the war there will be established a direct Jap- 
anese shipping service between Japan and 
Greece, trade between the two countries hav- 
ing been carried on hitherto through the me- 
dium of French and German middlemen. 




French Confectioner/ 



Fancy Cakes, Petits 
Fours, Plum Pud- 
ding and Imported 
Candies put up in 

neat Xmas packages 

and sent to all parts of the United States, 

France, and to the trenches. 

211_PQWEUST. . SAN FRANCISCO^AL.- . 





Language is sometimes used to conceal thought : but on a Shasta Label it 
reveals what is purest and best in water. 

SIXTY CENTS FOR SIX SIPHONS DELIVERED AT YOUR RESIDENCE 
SHASTA "WATER FROM SHASTA SPRINGS 

Telephone your grocer or the SHASTA WATER COMPANY 
San Francisco : Oakland : Alameda : Berkeley : Sacramento 



The Last " Wager of Battel." 

Just one hundred years ago, on November 
17, 1817, the last attempt was made in Eng- 
land to decide a case of alleged murder by an 
appeal to the god of battles. 

The old law which permitted this primitive 
method of settlement had long been neglected, 
and was thought to be obsolete. By 1817 
most people, including lawyers and even 
judges, imagined that "Wager of Battel" was 
a relic of the barbarous past, as little likely 
to be revived as walking on red-hot plow- 
shares or testing for witchcraft by drowning 
the witch. 

The fact that wager of battle was still an 
integral part of English judicial methods came 
out in a case, in which a bricklayer named 
Abraham Thornton was accused of the murder 
of a girl named Mary Ashford (says the Lon- 
don Observer). It was a Midland case, but 
the interest which it excited spread to the 
four corners of the kingdom. The girl's body 
was found in a pond the morning after she 
had attended a dance with Thornton at Ty- 
burn House, half a mile from Castle Brom- 
wich. On Whit Monday, 1817, Thornton was 
tried for murder at Warwick Assizes and 
found "Not Guilty," circumstantial evidence 
proving that he was more than three miles 
away when the drowning took place. It may 
here fee added that Mary's death was probably 
a case of shame and suicide. 

A local solicitor, after searching the pages 
of the law, induced William Ashford, Mary's 
brother, to take proceedings as her heir, under 
an old unrepealed Act of Parliament, and 
Thornton was again put on his trial by an "ap- 
peal of murder." The case came on in the 
Court of King's Bench, on November 6th, and 
was adjourned till November 17th. On that 
day Thornton entered the court with a smile 
on his face, and stood unmoved while the 
count was read. 

"Are you guilty of the said felony and mur- 
der whereof you stand as appealed?" asked 
the clerk in the crown office. 

"Not guilty," replied Thornton, "and I am 
ready to defend the same with my body." 

His counsel, Mr. Reader, took from the 
bottom of his bag a pair of large gauntlets, 
■which he handed to the prisoner. Thornton 
hastily put on one of them, and threw the 
other on the floor of the court, for the appel- 
lant to take up, as a sign that he accepted the 
challenge. 

It was not taken up. Judges and counsel 
were amazed that an attempt should be made 
iii that year of grace to deflect the course of 
justice by a personal combat between the ac- 
cuser and the accused. 

But the law was the law, and it had to be 
observed. Ash ford's counsel put in a counter- 
plea that the court, having regard to the dif- 
ference in strength between Ashford and 
Thornton, would waive the "right of battel," 
and direct a new trial by jury. When, on Jan- 
uary 24, 1818, the case came on again for re- 
hearing, the lawyers were primed with prece- 
dents coming down from Saxon days. Noth- 
ing was settled on that date, and it was not 
until the following April 16th that Lord Ellen- 
borough gave a decision. "However obnoxious 
I am myself to the trial by battel," he said, 
"it is the mode of trial which we, in our 
judicial character, are bound to award. . . . 
We must pronounce our judgment that the 
battel shall take place, unless the party re- 
serves for our consideration whether, under 
the circumstances of the case, the defendant 
is entitled to go without the day. ... At 
present we pronounce: That there be a Trial 
by Battel, unless the appellant show reason 
why the defendant should not depart without 
the day." 

Ashford persisted in declining to accept the 
wager, nor did he offer any further legal ob- 
jection to Thornton's discharge, and the twice- 
accused man was permitted to go free. In the 
following year the old Act of Parliament un- 



der which the wager was possible was re- 
moved from the statute book. 



The parallel between the royal houses of 
Greece and Sweden is somewhat striking. If 
it is carried much further it may become, for 
King Gustavus, a "deadly" parallel (.remarks 
the Cleveland Plain Dealer). Both Gustavus 
V and ex-King Constantine are men of ability 
and forcefulness. Before the outbreak of the 
war the Swedish monarch exercised large au- 
thority in the government of his nation, and 
was far more assertive than the usual run of 
twentieth-century constitutional kings. In- 
stead of acquiescing silently in governmental 
policies which were distasteful to him, Gus- 
tavus dismissed governments which declined 
to do his bidding, and the people of Sweden 
rather admired his temerity. Like Constan- 
tine, whose" father was a Danish prince, Gus- 
tavus is the scion of transplanted royalty. 
His father was grandson of Marshal Berna- 
dotte, a French civilian, who was arbitrarily 
chosen king by the Swedish Parliament. Gus- 
tavus has a German wife. She is Victoria, 
daughter of the Grand Duke of Baden. Since 
the beginning of the war Queen Victoria has 
made no secret of her German sympathies. 
As Constantine's Sophia, the Kaiser's sister, 
was the" most malign influence in the "Greek 
royal household, so Victoria of Baden may 
be the evil genius of Gustavus. In Sweden, 
as it was in Greece, the pro-German sentiment 
is strongest in the king's coterie. The 
Swedish people, like the people of all civilized 
nations, look with horror on the German 
crimes. Neither the king nor his Prussophile 
cabinet would attempt to force the nation into 
war as Germany's ally. It would be too dan- 
gerous an undertaking. The most that can be 
done is to maintain a malevolent neutrality 
toward the Allies and to aid Potsdam as far 
as possible without getting caught at it. It 
has not as yet been made clear that the king 
himself is the head of the pro-German cabal 
at Stockholm, but he can not escape responsi- 
bility either for the policy of his ministers or 
for the utterances of his wife. This is espe- 
cially true since it is well known that Gus- 
tavus is no weakling, but a vigorous , and 
aggressive personality. 



One sure means of ending the war (out- 
side of the imagination of the writers of ro- 
mances) exists, and a French contemporary 
does not forbear to urge the use of it. In 
Madrid, in a certain public square, stands a 
statue of Our Lady of Almudena ; on a gold 
chain about the neck of the statue hangs a 
ring richly set with diamonds. Nobody 
meddles with it. Even thieves let it severely 
alone. And the reason is plain (says an ex- 
change). For the ring is endowed with a ter- 
rible power, as its history proves. Alfonso 
X 1 1 made a present of it to his wife, Queen 
Mercedes. Queen Mercedes died a month 
later. Then the king gave the bauble to his 
sister, the Infanta Maria. A few days after- 
wards the Infanta died. The ring, reverting 
to the royal giver, was next presented to his 
late queen's grandmother, Queen Christina, 
who was dead within three months. After 
that the monarch kept the ring in his own 
jewel casket. Within the year he was dead. 
Ever since then the ring has hung about the 
neck of Our Lady of Almudena. The French 
suggestion is this: Why shouldn't the present 
King of Spain offer the ring to the Kaiser? 



Vandals, seeking a mythical treasure which 
in generations past has attracted adventurers 
from remote distances, even so far away as 
Chile and France, recently were found digging 
a shaft beneath the altar of the ancient ruin 
of Gran Quivera, not far from the Santn Fes 
Belen cut-off in New Mexico. ' 
searchers for this fabled treasui 
shaft into a solid stratum of In 
ting at the bottom of it a crncif.:-. 



16 



THE ARGONAUT 



Janunry 5, 1918. 



THE ALLEGED HUMORISTS. 



"And did 
' — Boston 



"Alice married a nonagenarian." 
she change her religion for his 
Transcript. 

"Pleasure," said Uncle Eben, "kin be im- 
ported; but happiness has to be home-made." 
— Washington Star. 

"An engine is a paradoxical sort of a propo- 
sition." "How so?" "It is hottest when it's 
coaled." — Baltimore American. 

He — I'm curious to know how you manage 
to spend so much money. She — I wouldn't 



Carefully Guarded 

Watchful sentinels that never 
sleep guard all O. A. & E. Ry. 
trains between San Francisco 

and Sacramento. 

1 The electric automatic block signal system is 
operated -with such a degree of accuracy arid 
watchfulness as to seem almost superhuman. Out 
of an average of 300,000 indications each month 
not a single false movement was registered. 

u 98% of all trains are on time " 

OAKLAND, ANTIOCH & EASTERN RY. 

San Francisco Depot: Key Route Ferry 

Phone Sutter 2339 



Geo. E. Billings Roy C. Ward Geo. B. Dinsmore 
J. C. Muessdorffer Jas. W. Dean 

GEO. E. BILLINGS CO. 

ALL FORMS OF INSURANCE 
EFFECTED 

312 California Street. San Frinci.co.Cal. 
Phone — Douglas 2283 



Park Sanitarium 

FOR THE CARE AND 
TREATMENT OF 

ALCOHOL AND 
DRUG ADDICTIONS 

With Accommodations for 
Selected Cases of 

Chronic Invalidism and the Acute 
Psychoses and Neuroses 

Masonic Ave. and Page St. 

Telephone Market 8048 



be, my dear; I might get curious to know how 
you can make so much. — Puck. 

"My butler left me without any warning." 
"There are worse things than that. Mine left 
me without any spoons." — Houston Post. 

Sergeant (one of the old school) — It's the 
war that's ruining the army, sir — us having 
to enlist all these 'ere civilians. — London 
Opinion. 

"Jaggs boasts he is a man who always goes 
to the bottom of things." "I noticed that 
when he was at the punchbowl last night." — 
Baltimore American. 

Teacher — Now, Patsy, would it be proper 
to say, "You can't learn me nothing"? Patsy 
— Yes'm. Teacher — Why ? Patsy — 'Cause you 
can't. — Minneapolis Tribune. 

Employer — The position requires a great 
amount of mechanical experience. Applicant 
— I have owned a second-hand automobile for 
two months. Employer — Accepted! — Life. 

"Well, son," said the recruiting sergeant, 
"are you willing to die for your country?" 
"Not much," he answered, with a bright 
smile ; "I'm going over there to make a few 
Huns die for theirs." — The Jonathan. 

Edythe — He boasts that he gets invited to 
lots of swell dances. Grayce — Oh, I don't 
doubt it. I dare say he has stepped on some 
of the best toes in town. — Philadelphia Bul- 
letin. 

"Jones swore he'd tell his wife the truth 
always and at any cost this morning ?" 
"Well?" "Well, he went home to lunch; to- 
night he resumes diplomacy." — Richmond 
Times-Dispatch. 

"Bridget, don't you think you could get 
along with less company ? I'm sure no other 
mistress would stand it." "Sure, ma'am, 
that's right ! That's why I'm stayin' wid ye." 
— Boston Transcript. 

"There are some things I can't understand." 
"What now ?" "It is understood that a man 
can't lift himself by his bootstraps." "Well?" 
"But he can stand in his own light." — Louis- 
ville Courier-Journal. 

Valet — One of your creditors wishes to see 
you, sir. Master — Tell him I'm out. Valet — 
Yes, sir. And I'll just light one of your best 
cigars, sir ; he'll be more likely to believe me 
then. — Boston Transcript. 

First Politician — I have observed that you 
never pull any one's political chestnuts out of 



FOR YOUR OWN PROTECTION BEGIN 
THE NEW YEAR PROPERLY 

Begin it today. Tomorrow may 
be too late — fire may sweep 
away your most valuable papers, 
burglars may steal your finest 
jewels before morning. A box 
at the Crocker Safe Deposit 
Vaults is absolute protection. 
$4 a year and up. 

Crocker Safe Deposit Vaults 



Crocker Building 



Post and Market Sts. 



UNDER MANAGEMENT 

JOHN F. CUNNINGHAM 



the fire. Second Politician — No ; my spe- 
cialty, as a party leader and reorganizes is to 
fire political chestnuts out of the pull. — Tozvn 
Topics. 

"Did I understand you to say Dubson was 
absent-minded?" "Yes, but not in the way it 
afflicts some very learned people." "No ?" 
"In Dubson's case it's continuous." — Birming- 
ham Age-Herald. 

"Does prohibition really prohibit in this 
region ?" "Does it ?" answered Mr. Gap 
Johnson of Rumpus Ridge, Arkansas. "Why, 
podner, the frogs have quit hollering anything 
but 'Jug o' grape-juice.' " — Kansas City Star. 

Wigg — Did young Bjones reach the goal of 



his ambition at college? IVagg — The goal? 
Why, he never even made the team. — Phila- 
delphia Record, 

"I do hope you appreciate that in marrying 
my daughter you marry a large-hearted girl ?" 
"I do, sir. And I hope she inherits those 
qualities from her father." — Passing Show. 

Sweet Little Maiden — Is there a letter for 
me ? Postofhce Clerk — Who's me ? Sweet 
Little Maiden — I'm Gladys Cummin. Post- 
ofhce Clerk — Yes, I dare say your are glad 
he's coming; but what's your name? Sweet 
Little Maiden — How dare you? My name is 
Gladys Cummin. Postofhce Clerk — Oh — oh — 
I beg your pardon. — Pearson's Weekly. 




The Argonaut. 



Vol. LXXXII. No. 2129. 



San Francisco, January 12, 1918. 



Price Ten Cents 



PUBLISHERS' NOTICE: The Argonaut (title trade-marked) is 
published every week by the Argonaut Publishing Company. Sub- 
scriptions, $4.00 per year; six months, $2.10; three months, $1.10, 
payable in advance — postage prepaid. Subscriptions to all foreign 
countries within the Postal Union, $5.00 per year. Sample copies 
free. Single copies, 10 cents. News Dealers and Agents in the 
interior supplied by the San Francisco News Company, 747 Howard 
Street, San Francisco. Subscribers wishing their addresses changed 
should give their old as well as new addresses. The American 
News Company, New York, are agents for the Eastern trade. The 
Argonaut may be ordered from any News Dealer or Postmaster in 
the United States or Europe. Special advertising rates to publishers. 

Address all communications to The Argonaut, 207 Powell Street, 
San Francisco. Make all checks, drafts, postal orders, etc., payable 
to "The Argonaut Publishing Company." 

Entered at the San Francisco postoffice as second-class matter. 

The Argonaut can be obtained in London at the International 
News Co., Breams Building, Chancery Lane; American Newspaper 
and Advertising Agency, Trafalgar Square, Northumberland Ave- 
nue; and at Daws Steamship Agency, 17 Green Street, Leicester 
Square, and can be ordered from any of the news-stands of W. H. 
Smith & Son. In Paris, at 37 Avenue de I'Opera. In New York, at 
Brentano's, Fifth Avenue and Twenty-Seventh Street. In Chicago, 
Western News Company. In Washington, at Adams' News Agency, 
Ninth and G Streets. 

The Argonaut is on sale at the Ferry Station, San Francisco, 
by Foster & O'Rear; on the ferryboats of the Key Route system 
by the news agents, and by the Van Noy-Interstate Company on 
Southern Pacific boats and trains. 

Telephone, Kearny 5895. Publication office, 207 Powell Street. 
WILLIAM J. MILLIKEN, Business Manager. 



FORTY- FIRST YEAR. 



ALFRED HOLMAX ------- Editor 

TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

-EDITORIAL: War Aims Defined — The New Dispensation — 
A Vital and Timely "Issue" — Our State University and 

the War 17-19 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 19 

THE THEATRE OF WAR. By Sidney Coryn '. 19-20 

INDIVIDUALITIES: Notes About Prominent People All 

Over the World 20 

OLD FAVORITES: "The Feet of the Young Men," by Rud- 

yard Kipling 20 

THE CRUISE OF THE CORWLN: John Muir Tells the 

Story of an Adventurous Voyage of Arctic Exploration. . 21 

BUSINESS NOTES 22 

AMERICA MEETS FRANCE: A Study in Relationships Be- 
tween the Old and the New 23 

CURRENT VERSE ...: 23 

THE LATEST BOOKS: Critical Notes— Briefer Reviews- 
Gossip of Books and Authors — New Books Received 24-25 

DRAMA: "Fair and Warmer"; The Orpheum; Isadora Dun- 
can Again. By Josephine Hart Phelps 26 

FOYER AND BOX-OFFICE CHAT 27 

VANITY FAIR: Sartorial Reproaches from a Sympathetic 

Sister — Candy and the Sugar Bill 28 

STORYETTES: Grave ad Gay, Epigrammatic and Otherwise.. 29 

THE MERRY' MUSE 29 

PERSONAL: Notes and Gossip — Movements and Where- 
abouts 30-31 

THE ALLEGED HUMORISTS: Paragraphs Ground Out by 

the Dismal Wits of the Day 32 



War Aims Defined. 

Formal declarations within the week by Premier 
Lloyd-George and President Wilson are largely de- 
■signed for diplomatic effect in Russia. They amount 
to the practical notification to Russia that her fortunes 
are bound up with the purposes of the Alies ; and, 
taken with the developments of the Brest Litovsk con- 
ference, they should impress those who have in hand 
the immediate destinies of Russia. Affiliation on the 
part of Russia with the Allied powers under the prom- 
ises of Britain and America implies opportunity "for 
independent determination of her own political develop- 
ment" ; separate dealing with Germany will surely mean 
loss of territory with subordination to Prussian over- 
lordship. The whole future of Russia is dependent 
upon the choice she may make. 

The declarations of Premier Lloyd-George and 
President Wilson bring to a more definite point than 
has hitherto been set forth the essential aims of the 
war on the part of the Allies. Now if not before Ger- 
many knows precisely for what purposes and to what 
ends we are fighting and for which we will fight "to 
the death." She should, too, be assured that peace 
may be attained without loss of any principle or sac- 
rifice of any condition vital to her integrity or pros- 
perity. The notification is a definite one that we shall 



sustain the war to the full limit of our resources 
— physical, financial, and moral. There will be no 
peace until the declared ends are obtained or until we 
shall be overwhelmed by defeat or exhaustion. Either 
Germany must end the war by acceptance of the de- 
clared conditions or the war will go on until the col- 
lapse of one side or the other. 

If the struggle shall go on the advantage is ob- 
viously with the side which has the greater resources 
of men, material, and food. That advantage is plainly 
on the side of the Allies. Germany, on the other hand, 
has an advantage in the positive coordination of her 
forces. That the Allies can attain a similar centraliza- 
tion of forces and so match the unity of purpose and 
action exhibited by the enemy is to be doubted. 
Democratic and combined organization never quite 
matches, other things being equal, the force implied in 
autocratic authority. 

It may be said that no serious and intelligent mind, 
unbiased by interest or sympathy, doubts the ultimate 
outcome. With the advantage of numerical, material, 
and moral strength the Allies must win. And it will be 
a calamity of unparalleled magnitude if the end shall 
have to wait upon the exhaustion and paralysis of 
Germany. 

The New Dispensation. 

Developments of the week under governmental "pos- 
session and control" of the railroads amount to prac- 
tical revolution in the transportation activities of the 
country. Executive authority vested in Mr. McAdoo 
has suspended all restrictive regulations and has moved 
rapidly in the matter of transferring railroad service 
from a competitive to a cooperative basis. By the 
cutting out of passenger trains and the curtailment of 
facilities of travel a vast "equipment" has been released 
from non-essential services and transferred to the more 
vital business of expediting war transportation and 
carrying coal to shivering communities. Concurrently 
we have the beginning of a policy calculated to the end 
of a general reduction in charges of railroad operation. 
The machinery of competition is in process of mini- 
mization through elimination. Government is seeking, 
not to create and augment traffic, but to nullify and 
limit it. 

Thus the President's declared purpose in assuming 
"possession and control" of the properties of the coun- 
try is being worked out radically and promptly. Trans- 
portation managers under executive pledge of govern- 
mental protection of the physical properties and of 
their earning values are cooperating cheerfully and 
effectively. Results already achieved or in sight clearly 
justify the action of the President in taking over the 
roads for the war period as the one and only means 
of unifying their facilities, by breaking through the 
tangled web of restrictions established by law under 
the long-sustained policy of maintaining the several 
systems in competitive relations. It is not yet possible 
to measure in precise terms the augmentation of 
efficiencies or the diminution of costs under unification, 
still less to balance gains and losses, but it is an 
assurance that when the record shall be definite there 
will be many surprises on both sides of the account. 



All thus far rests upon executive authority under 
the war powers granted to Mr. Wilson last year. 
Congress has yet to act in the matter of the executive 
pledges under which "possession and control" were 
assumed. Likewise it is for Congress to determine if 
the restrictive laws hitherto limiting the operation of 
the roads shall be held merely in suspense or nullified 
by formal repeal. Addressing Congress on Friday of 
last week, the President asked in terms very simple and 
clear that what he has done shall have the sanction of 
the legislative branch of the government. For the 



moment it matters little if Congress shall give or with- 
hold approval, since the President's powers are sufficient 
to immediate purposes. But ultimately everything will 
depend upon congressional action ; and with respect to 
the matter there are questionable suggestions. There is 
an element in Congress, more particularly in the Senate, 
which very highly regards the authorities and privi- 
leges of the legislative department ; and we hear already 
murmurings of offended dignity based on the fact that 
in taking over the railroads the President acted without 
consultation with Congress and without its specific sanc- 
tion. 

Then quite naturally there are sincere differences of 
judgment as to what the ultimate policy of the govern- 
ment should be. Bills prepared under executive direc- 
tion and placed by the President before Congress, con- 
firmatory of what has been done, will be subjected to 
scrutiny and criticism and they will assuredly become 
subject of prolonged and probably of acrimonious dis- 
cussion. Out of the situation as it unfolds itself there 
will doubtless come issues of a very serious kind to be 
reflected in the future politics of the country. There 
will be those in Congress and out of it who will wish to 
limit governmental "possession and control" to the 
period of the war, others to favor control without pos- 
session, still others to support the policy of com- 
plete nationalization through purchase and ownership. 
There are infinite possibilites in a situation wherein the 
considerations are many and involved, the material in- 
terests vast, and the political and social consequences 
varied and vital. For the time being at least Congress 
will in a general way sustain the President, but as to 
what it may do as conditions and consequences develop 
— and party conditions change — no man may now fore- 
tell. But very obviously a new "issue" — or a whole 
brood of issues — in American political and social life 
is in the making. 

Further reflection confirms the hurried impression of 
our last writing that conditions will not go back to 
where they stood prior to the "seizure" of the roads. 
Above and beyond the general principle that revolu- 
tions never go backward, we have in this matter two 
overwhelming factors tending to prevent reestablish- 
ment of the system of private control and competi- 
tive methods. It was the late Mr. Morgan, we believe, 
who declared the impossibility of "unscrambling an 
egg." The railroads of the country, once thoroughly 
merged and unified, will present a condition which 
no readjuster can dissolve. Furthermore the co- 
operative principle as applied to the transportation 
system as a whole will justify itself beyond doubt 
or question by its promotion of efficiencies and by 
its economies. Whoever may own the railroads in 
future — whether private companies oi the government 
— they are certain to be operated under some scheme 
of general control, under a plan directly counter 
to the competitive idea long and preciously main- 
tained by the legislators of the country. The weakness 
and the wastefulness of competition in transportation 
will be so definitely exhibited that nobody will wish to 
return to it — least of all investors in railroad property. 

That the public will take kindly to a regime in which 
competition shall have no part is much to be doubted. 
The advantages enjoyed by American travelers and 
shippers in comparison with travelers and shippers in 
countries where transportation is a governmental 
function are many and varied: and these have for 
the most part been brought about by competition. 
Transportation charges with us have been lower than 
in other countries; arrangements for individual comfort 
of travelers have been greater and more available ; 
the general conditions of train service have been more 
convenient. Governmental control will surely tend to 
reduction of facilities and to elimination 
I dental aids. Already it has been dec 



18 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 12, 1918. 



partments of solicitation of traffic shall be eliminated 
upon the theory of saving expense. Yet in very con- 
siderable degree the freight and passenger solicitor has 
been, not merely a promoter of traffic, but an aid to 
those who patronize the roads, With disappearance 



which have been helpful to travelers and shippers. 

The newer parts of the country will miss advantages 
hitherto sustained through projects of local exploitation 
hitherto carried by the railroads. Local merchants 
snd manufacturers will miss the business hitherto ap- 
portioned them by their home roads. The greater 
centres will miss the benefits which have come through 
coordination of interest between themselves and the 
railroad. Taxpayers, if the government shall take over 
the properties and exempt them from the tax-gatherer, 
will be called upon to make up for a heavy slump in 
public revenues. Even local benevolence, which has 
unfailingly found generosity and cooperation at the 
hands of railroad managers, will find itself minus a tra- 
ditional resource. Taking one thing with another, the 
public is likely to hold a critical eye upon immediate 
conditions and to look fondly backward upon the day 
when the interest of the railroads of every state and 
community were more or less coincident with local 
interest. We hear already premonitory rumblings of 
a protest which, with progress of time and multiplica- 
tion of large and small discontents, may rise to the 
volume of a storm. 

Governmental control in one form or another we 
take to be an assured future policy. Governmental 
ownership may or may not come about: but whether 
one system or the other shall ultimately prevail — or 
something else not yet thought of — it may be taken as 
an assurance that the "railroad issue" instead of being 
eliminated has been augmented. So great an interest 
so vitally related to public convenience and welfare can 
not possibly be eliminated from the kind of considera- 
tion which finds reflection in divergence of social and 
political views and purposes. 



It will be recalled that some weeks prior to the 
taking over of the roads by President Wilson certain 
"brotherhoods" of railroad workmen — the same that a 
year ago won a notable increase in wages by threaten- 
ing to paralyze the transportation of the country — had 
made a new demand upon the railroad managers, ac- 
companied by a declaration that they "must" have their 
answer by January 1st. The President took over the 
roads on December 28th, thus relieving the managers 
of an immediate problem. That there was design in 
connection with the date of assuming possession and 
control by Mr. Wilson is obvious. Likewise it is ob- 
vious that the labor leaders and the government under- 
stand each other. It requires no prophet to foretell 
that a commission just appointed to investigate claims 
of the brotherhoods, and other railway operators, and 
instructed to report to Mr. McAdoo will recom- 
mend a heavy advance in existing wage scales. Xo 
doubt that was arranged before hand. An administra- 
tion which in a hundred ways has exhibited its friend- 
ship, not to say its political partnership, with organized 
labor, as demonstrated in concession to its extreme and 
arbitrary demands, will hardly fail to sustain this friend- 
ship at any cost, especially when that cost may, by 
a mere word of authority, be compensated by increase 
in traffic rates. With the railroads in the hands of the 
government the Administration will find it easy, and 
easily to its liking, to keep labor in good humor — in 
other ways to meet its demands with concession. 

Thus when the issue of private or public ownership 
shall come, as it ultimately must, to the point of de- 
termination the voice of organized labor will be for 
taking over the roads in full ownership and possession. 
Xationalization of the roads will vastly promote the 
authority of labor in the counsels of the government 
and in general politics; and it is not thinkable that so 
potential an opportunity will be overlooked by Mr. 
Gompers and his associates, who have already in many 
and in varied ways exhibited their ambition to mix in 
the business of regulating the affairs of the republic. 
The political party that shall place itself squarely in 
favor of public ownership may surely rely upon co- 
operation at the hands of the leaders of the organized 
labor forces of the country. 



As nas already been said, we do not believe that the 
:rnment will — or should — ever wholly release the 



railroads to private and unregulated management. A 
certain measure of centralized control will surely be 
sustained. But proposals for public ownership in the 
complete sense must in the nature of things encounter 
serious practical obstacles. We pass over, for the mo- 
ment, the inevitable protest to come from those who, 
with the Argonaut, believe that detailed governmental 
administration of the transportation system will inaugu- 
rate a colossal regime of nationalized corruption. In the 
physical adjustment there will arise an almost insur- 
mountable difficulty founded in differences of judgment 
i as to the values of the several properties. While it is 
I a known fact that extravagance and dishonesty played 
i a large part in the original financing and construction 
j of many roads, it is likewise probably true, as main- 
I tained by authorities in railroad finance, that the present 
actual value of the railroad properties of the country is 
fully equal to or in excess of values as represented by 
securities resting upon the properties. Xor is there 
any mystery in this apparent incongruity. Many or 
most of the properties were developed in periods of 
relative cheapness of materials and labor. Again, the 
railway terminals in the great cities represent, in 
present values, values far in excess of those upon which 
they were originally acquired. We suspect that the 
financial experts who appraise present values as well 
within the limits fixed by bond and stock issues have 
the matter at rights, and that, subjected to the test of 
proof, they would easily sustain their calculations. But 
no matter how definitely proof to this effect might be 
established there will be many to hold contrary views 
and to insist by every means and method known to 
political and other forms of obstruction against adjust- 
ments thus defined and recommended. Here, we repeat, 
in appraisement and valuation of the properties, is a 
hurdle which under its political inspirations the gov- 
ernment, however it may be disposed, will find it difficult 
to pass. 

There are hopeful souls who assert and no doubt 
believe that the railroads under governmental posses- 
sion and control — or ownership — may be kept out of 
politics. We fear it is a case wherein the wish is 
parent to the thought. Certain it is that nothing else 
with which government has to do authoritatively is 
kept out of politics. The postoffice has not been kept 
out of politics. Purchases on government account have 
not been kept out of politics. Only in a limited sense 
have the army and navy been kept out of politics. The 
sacred business of legislation is and has always been 
the very lifeblood of politics. With the record in view 
of our dealings with governmental matters great and 
small one is truly an optimist who imagines so great an 
interest as that of the transportation system of the 
country, under nationalization, held above and apart 
from partisan calculation. It is not, indeed, to be ex- 
pected that there will be an immediate and brutal 
sweep of the railroad sen-ice on political account, but 
as vacancies occur in the administrative machinery men 
of "cooperative mind" — in other words, men friendly to 
the appointing authority — will be preferred and favored. 
Any other method of selection would be out of accord 
with human nature — and political nature is only applied 
human nature. 

It was pointed out in these columns last week that 
the business of the combined railroad systems of the 
country is greater than that of the government itself. 
More men and more money are involved in it. It 
touches the daily life and, in an immediate and con- 
scious sense, the welfare of the people at more points 
than the business of government. It stands directly 
related to the interest of labor, now so insistent in its 
demands and so determined in their support as to 
subordinate and dwarf even- other motive or con- 
sideration. It is not reasonable — indeed it is not 
conceivable — that an interest thus popularly connected, 
and subject to governmental authority, can escape the 
machinations of the politician. Beyond a doubt the 
railroads, possessed or definitely controlled by govern- 
ment, will feel the same blighting hand that in one 
degree or another affects and corrupts every other 
phase of nationalized activity. 

It is a fatal fact in connection with our system that 
everything of real importance is first or last drawn 
into the voracious maw of politics. From national 
pensions along a descending scale to the purchase of a 
reel of hose for a village fire department even- interest 
having within itself opportunity or promise of profit or 



employment inevitably gets into politics. It is the curse 
of our system; and we sadly fear the disease of which 
it must ultimately decline and die. We should like to 
believe that there is virtue enough, patriotism enough, 
common sense enough, protective instinct enough in the 
American mind to establish and hold above and apart 
from considerations of politics a great and vital public 
service like that of transportation. But observation for- 
bids us to cherish a delusion founded in Utopian dreams. 
Just as surely as we shall nationalize the transportation 
system of the country in such fashion as to place its 
detailed control in the hands of politically-chosen ad- 
ministrators, just so surely will there enter into our 
politics a colossal and corrupting factor. God forfend 
us against a consummation surely fatal to the integrity 
of our national life in any form even faintly resem- 
bling the system organized by and bequeathed to us 
by the fathers of the republic. 



A Vital and Timely " Issue." 

The war naturally subordinates the ordinary mo- 
tives of national politics. Old party cries are stifled 
in the presence of the great crisis; while the intrusion 
of prohibition, woman suffrage, and other triviali- 
ties is at this time sheer impertinence. In recent 
months it has been difficult to discover any line of 
radical demarcation between the principles and the 
policies of the two great parties; thus the situation has 
naturally tended to the advantage of the party in au- 
thority, under the Lincolnian tradition which declares 
the hazard of swapping horses while crossing a stream. 
Democratic politicians are nursing the theory that, 
since everybody is for the war, everybody's support is 
due the party that is conducting the war. 

But the congressional investigations are making it 
clear that there is an issue of real importance growing 
out of the war itself. Begun with the idea of finding 
scapegoats in relatively minor posts, these investiga- 
tions are demonstrating a woeful lack of vision and a 
like woeful lack of statecraft in high places. "In our 
country," declared the War College the other day in 
its report on military policy, "public opinion estimates 
the situation and statecraft shapes the policy." Taken 
in connection with the record of the past three years, 
this dictum all but defines an issue of vital importance 
now before the country. 

Public opinion, led by President Wilson, held that 
it was unwise to adopt a military policy. It cherished 
the notion that we were being kept out of war, hence 
military preparation was unnecessary and unwise. 
Statecraft — such as it was — shaped our policy up to 
last April, and there are few who do not now see that 
it shaped it badly. The whole truth is not yet im- 
pressed upon the country, yet there are many who see 
that the statecraft which shaped our policy on wrong 
lines was lacking not more in vision than in honesty. 
For the Administration, even at the very time it was 
making a presidential campaign upon the formula "kept 
us out of war," knew upon positive information that 
war was inevitable. At the very time Mr. Wilson and 
his counselors and advisors were claiming credit for 
keeping the country out of war they had knowledge 
through Mr. Gerard and others of facts demon- 
strating the necessity, upon defensive ground if upon 
no other, of arraying the forces of the country against 
the Teutonic menace. 

Statecraft under political calculation, as the current 
investigations are making plain, is responsible for the 
fact that we entered the war unprepared and that after 
many months of nominal participation in the war we 
are still doing the work of preparation badly. If state- 
craft as represented by the Democratic administration 
had been honest in its dealing with the country it would 
not have carried us into war under conditions of unfit- 
ness and impotency. That we are today, while more 
than nine months nominally at war, still improvising 
armies, still short of tents, uniforms, and blankets, still 
without guns or ammunition, is due to a statecraft 
lacking foresight, energy, force, or courage or all these 
qualities. 

Here is the basis of an issue both vital and timely, 
an issue worth the attention of the country and bound, 
sooner or later, to command it. It has not yet been 
discovered in its full significance and force by the Re- 
publicans in Congress. Only Mr. Roosevelt, whose 
Republicanism is a matter of question, appears to com- 
prehend it adequately. Yet we venture the prophecy 



January 12, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



19 



that it will be made the basis of the oncoming' Repub- 
lican campaign. That in the face of the administrative 
record, previous to our entrance into the war and since, 
the Democratic party will be permitted unchallenged to 
retain control of the government is unthinkable. It is 
contrary to precedent, counter to the genius and the 
habit of American politics. 

And from the Republican point of view the situa- 
tion is far from hopeless. In the House of Rep- 
resentatives the two parties are narrowly divided 
and the margin of Democratic advantage in the 
Senate is not so great as to preclude the possibility 
of reversal next year. When the Congressional Di- 
rectory for the new session was issued last month it 
exhibited the party situation in the House as follows: 
Republicans, 213; Democrats, 213; Prohibition, 1; Pro- 
gressive-Protection, 1 ; Progressive, 1 ; Progressive- 
Democrat, 1 ; Socialist, 1 ; Non-Partisan, 1 ; Inde- 
pendent, 1 ; vacancy, 1. Total, 434. Since this publi- 
cation four Democrats have resigned — Fitzgerald of 
New York, retiring to private life; Bruckner of New 
York, to become president of Bronx; Adamson of 
Georgia, to become a member of the board of ap- 
praisers at New York; Griffin of New York, to become 
sheriff of Brooklyn. Another Democrat, Bathrick of 
Ohio, has died, and still another, Hulbert of New 
York, is expected to resign to become commissioner of 
yards and stocks of New York City. Concurrently the 
Democrats have gained one member in Blake of Michi- 
gan in contest with Bacon, a Republican Three Re- 
publicans (Heintz of Ohio, La Guardia of New York, 
and Johnson of South Dakota) have resigned to enter 
the army. Today the roster of the House stands 207 
Democrats and 209 Republicans, with nine vacancies 
and a few memberships divided among minor or non- 
descript classifications. 

For the moment it is obvious that the Republicans 
have the situation in hand, though upon a narrow and 
uncertain margin. But while the Republican status in 
the House is not a strong one it is sufficiently close 
to the line of control to inspire reasonable hope of 
success in the next Congress if the party, with an 
effective issue in its hand, shall go into this year's con- 
gressional campaign with vigor. All that is really 
needed is inspiring leadership. Such leadership is not 
in sight unless it shall be provided by Mr. Roosevelt, 
who seems to be the only man in sight of sufficient 
courage and power to command national attention. 



Our State University and the "War. 

Current activities in and in connection with our 
State University serve to'illustrate not only the patriotic 
spirit and capabilities of that institution, but the wide- 
reaching demands of modern warfare. Before the 
Berkeley Chamber of Commerce last week President 
Wheeler ran over briefly the ways and means in which 
the university is supporting the government in the 
prosecution of the war. Reckoning alumni, students, 
and men drawn from its teaching force the university 
has sent upwards of 2200 men to serve in the military 
and naval forces of the nation. Two ambulance units 
were sent to France prior to our entrance into the war 
and more recently two ambulance units and two base 
hospital units have been recruited at the university. 
The academic board is cooperating with the army in 
the conduct at Berkeley of a school of military aero- 
nautics with an attendance of about 500 enlisted men. 
A school of navigation is being conducted in conjunc- 
tion with United States shipping authorities. A school 
for chief storekeepers in the ordnance department is 
now carrying on its second course. In conjunction 
with the War Department a unit of the Reserve 
Officers Training Camp has been established, in which 
1218 university cadets are enrolled. 

The various departments of the university are in full 
cooperation with the government in a multitude of 
activities. The department of agriculture in close 
touch with the Federal Food Commission is devoting 
the larger part of its energies to the solution of food 
problems involved in the war. The comptroller of the 
university is serving as United States food commis- 
sioner for California. The department of chemistry is 
engaged extensively in research work in cooperation 
with governmental authorities looking to war needs. 
Similarly the engineering department is active in this 
sort of work and is lending its equipment and the 
services of its experts to the government. Many of the 
research problems being dealt with by departments of 



the university are confidential in their nature, and of 
this work it may only be said that gratifying results 
have already been achieved. 

The affiliated schools of medical science, psychology, 
etc., are likewise active to the limit of their capacity. 
The dispensary since July 1st has conducted 2200 ex- 
aminations for government service. The dental school 
has aided the War Department by supplying trained 
men for the work of the dental corps and by providing 
under its clinic free dental service for men who because 
of defects of teeth might be rejected under the draft. 
Especially notable among many scientific achievements 
of the year is the discovery of tethelin by Professor 
Robertson, a substance whose power has already been 
demonstrated to promote a growth of tissue in the 
treatment of wounds. 

In the departments enumerated and in several others 
the university has responded promptly to the call to 
service. "Our mobilization," said President Wheeler, 
"has only just begun; but the university knows its re- 
sponsibility and its power and it offers itself freely and 
eagerly to the common cause." In conclusion Dr. 
Wheeler said: 

The war is to be a long and bitter one, and is to test the 
resources of this nation to the depths. All that we are, all 
that we can hope and think and do as individuals and com- 
munities, as persons and state, must be given heartily and 
without halt to the defense and rescue of the state. What 
is there left us but the state, to what else shall we have refuge 
and cling. The Ship of State is sore beset. Shall we leave 
her and strike out for ourselves, lone swimmers on the face 
of a gray, storm-ridden sea? 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



A Challenge to "Vanity Fair." 

San Francisco, January 7, 1918. 

To the Writer of Vanity Fair — My Dear Sir: For years 
your column has been propped on my dressing-table and my 
camouflagerie has gone on under your watchful eye, so to 
speak. Your lightest word on feminine apparel has been 
my law. It is true I've taken some strange hurdles at your 
request, but I'm afraid to stand outside the pale of your 
approval. Long since I converted my spats into pockets, i 
gave my cigarettes to the soldiers, and I've painted the back 
fence with my rouge. 

Now, old dear, you listen to me ! 

Why does not the searchlight of your reforming mind dis- 
cover the frivolities of masculine attire ? Here, for instance, 
is the "military idea" showing "vigorous style variations" in 
the season's tweeds whereby the young Powell Street slick- 
head may get himself up in a fine imitation of our heroes 
at the front for eight een-fifty. Buy, he is told, an overcoat 
from the house of Tuppenheimer, "double-breasted, with belt 
all 'round," and be abroad at home. The thrills of the 
trenches in the quiet of your home. "No metal can touch 
you 1" 

Then there is the glamour which "exclusive styles" in 
nightwear may cast upon the imaginative. On page IS we 
find father skidding about in a robe de nuit which we are 
informed is "tailored on generous lines" ; and to prove the 
generosity in the allotment of flannelette father is obligingly 
twirling a pair of dumb-bells. It is further set forth that of 
this popular nightie there are 517 styles, a numerical strength 
which leaves them about 460 laps ahead of the famous pickle 
family of fifty-seven varieties. Another of this interesting 
group of the nocturnal 517 is the pajama, whose chief claim 
for distinction is based on a button at the ankle, the button, 
it seems, leaving "no chance for chills." A veritable Gibraltar, 
that button. There are always little chills lurking about hall- 
ways lying in wait for ankles. But you won't catch one — 
or one won't catch you — not if the little button at the ankle 
knows it. The idea is, if you see a man who isn't having a 
chill, you just know he wears them! 

Also there is the "pajunion," w"hose very name tells you 
what kind of an ingeniously-devised cross it is. On the face 
of it it couldn't be a union suit at all or it wouldn't do double- 
shift duty for the price of one. But there is the name in 
the neckband — the "pajunion." And it is left to the choice 
of the gleeful owner to remain discreetly upstairs or don fur- 
ther habiliments and sally forth into the market-place. 

But little did I suspect the flagellations imposed by ill- 
fitting undies until I came across one which promised man 
"the freedom of his own skin." Now in my ignorance I 
had supposed that every" man since Adam had enjoyed the 
freedom of his own skin. Not so ; he has had to fight for it. 
It is only now when he can get the pneumo-resto lightweight 
garments for sale at all dealers for one-twenty-five that he has 
really come into his own. Hereafter I shall look with com- 
passionate eye upon every man I meet, for I know now 
that not all the suffering is done in the trenches. 

Further agonies are laid before my flinching gaze. A fat, 
stock-brokering person is pictured at his desk with distorted 
countenance, his hand tugging at the shoulder of his coat. 
And in the background a grinning clerk is telling a stenog- 
rapher that "if he would wear a Fewofold he would forget 
his underwear." Equally a mitigant of harassing memories, 
it would seem, are "Resident" suspenders, which "don't let 
you know you have them on." Good heavens ! Is it possible 
that rich men, poor men, beggar men, and thieves go their 
various ways suffering under blighting reminders of nagging 
suspenders and cranky collars and— other things? And can 
nothing be done to alleviate these miseries? 

Now since you have set at naught by making much of 
the problems that have vexed women so long, why not 
storm the trenches of the haberdasheries and rout the cruel 
garments that "chafe" and "pinch" and "bind" and "grip" 
the poor average man. Get in touch with the wretch who 
suffers from the "squeezed-in, hitching-up belt discomfiture" 
and tell him about "the solace of stay-put pants." Why not 
have a heart-to-heart talk with every Dennis and Silas of 
them all and suggest a style of apparel that they can wear 
without being anaesthetized ? A Sympathetic Sister. 



Government surveyors have struck rich and continu- 
ous indications of gold, silver, and iron along the west 
coast of Sumatra. 



THE THEATRE OF WAR. 



The treatment accorded by Germany to the Russian repre- 
sentatives at Brest Litovsk is almost incredibly coarse and 
clumsy. Standing impeached and condemned for her faithless- 
ness by the whole of the civilized world, and desperately 
resentful of its verdict, she placidly adds to her record for 
chicane by a proceeding that is so transparently dishonest as 
to be actually stupid. Knowing that the Russian people are 
credulous and idealist, she assumes that they are also fools. 
Because they talk of internationalism, she supposes that they 
have renounced their patriotism. Because they repudiate the 
intention to annex the property of others, she takes it for 
granted that they are willing to be robbed of their own. 
And at a time when she should be clutching desperately at the 
few remaining rags and tatters of her political repute she 
cynically offers to the world a fresh example of political de- 
pravity, a new warning that her promises of action have no 
value except as an indication of the things that she does not 
intend to do. 

The present Russian situation has a large military impor- 
tance because it is now something more than a possibility that 
Russia will have to fight again in order to save her own ter- 
ritory and sustain her revolution. It will be remembered that 
Germany eagerly accepted the Russian principle for a peace 
without annexations or indemnities, and based on the idea of 
the self-determination of nationalities. The meeting at Brest 
Litovsk was ostensibly to arrange the details of such a peace, 
and to give to the other belligerents an opportunity to partici- 
pate. There was then little reason to doubt the Utopian and 
credulous honesty of the Russian delegates. I think there is 
still less reason to doubt it now. They were honest them- 
selves, and they seem to have had small suspicions of the 
German honesty. They believed that a principle had been 
established that would compel the adhesion of all the powers 
under the menace of revolution, and that having wrung a 
sort of self-denying ordinance from Germany it would be 
morally impossible for any other nation to show itself less 
responsive to political morality. Nothing remained to be done 
so far as Russia and Germany were concerned than to ratify 
the agreement, to declare peace, and to arrange the necessary 
evacuations. 

Then Germany showed her hand, and with that kind of 
abrupt arrogance that she mistakes for strength, and that she 
still supposes to be effective. Poland and Lithuania, she said, 
were already self-defined as wishing to be attached to Ger- 
many, and she would therefore proceed forthwith to attach 
them, that is to say to maintain permanently her present occu- 
pation of those countries. Other and lesser claims, equally 
defiant of the basic principles agreed upon, were also made 
by Von Kuhlmann, but they need not be recounted here. It 
is unnecessary to say that neither Poland nor Lithuania have 
expressed themselves as wishing to be annexed by Germany. 
No country on earth could conceivably wish such a thing. 
No opinion whatever has been elicited from Poland or 
Lithuania, nor has there been any real attempt to do so. 
The German assertion was wholly and gratuitously false, a 
piece of naked and unashamed trickery, if indeed anything 
so crudely stupid can be called trickery. It was a sudden 
assertion of Germany's intention to hold everything that she 
had conquered. The Russian delegates had been treated with 
studied and insolent contempt as defective children who must 
be momentarily humored to accept the inevitable. And the 
Russians seem to have realized this on the spot, although it 
may be feared that their realization has come too late. They 
withdrew from the conference and returned to Petrograd, 
whereon Trotzky announced that Russia would resume the 
war rather than lose her territory, and that she could put 
three million men into the field. It is much to be doubted. 
The breach continues at the moment of writing. Russia is 
said to be ablaze with a new patriotism, but nothing can be 
predicted of a people who will believe almost anything if only 
it is said with eloquence, and who are illiterate. Public 
opinion in Germany is said to be deeply moved, but in dif- 
ferent ways. The Socalists, now united, have hotly denounced 
their own government for its perfidy, and the Pan-Germans 
are equally heated in their applause. The government seems 
inclined to sustain the Pan-Germans, and to threaten Russia 
with attack unless she accedes to the German plans. Almost 
anything may happen, and Germany may presently decide to 
temporize. But it is not likely that the effect upon the Rus- 
sian public can be wholly effaced. Even the simplicities of 
the Russian mind must have learned the lesson of guile. And 
it is quite likely that the Bolsheviki may think it to their 
interest to fan the patriotic flames rather than to assuage 
them. There are many advantages in leading a popular 
patriotic crusade when the wind seems to sit in that quarter, 
and when it promises relief from internal troubles almost as 
great as those that come from abroad. 



But Russia is in a perilous plight. She is between the devil 
and the deep sea, and this is precisely the place for which 
she has been setting her compasses. She has estranged her 
allies, or at least she will feel that she has. She has de- 
liberately corrupted her own army, and expelled from it every 
general of note. She admits that the three million men that 
she claims to possess are in need of food and boots, and a 
soldier without food and boots might almost as well be dead, 
and probably soon would be. It is not likely that she can 
offer any sort of military resistance to the German attack, 
and doubtless this was well known to Germany and was the 
inspiration of the German demands. It seems as though noth- 
ing short of a general war of the people — the mc 
and perhaps the most effective of all wars — can 
many from doing whatever she wishes subject t 



20 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 12, 1918. 



of the weather. It is hard to believe that Russia is fated to 
be enslaved by Germany. It would seem to be the negation 
of a moral universe. But it is equally hard to see how she 
can escape. She is disarmed, stultified, emasculated. She 
might ultimately save herself by reestablishing her concord 
with her old allies if they would permit it, but I can not see 
that it would be to their interest to do so. She might save 
herself by calling the whole nation to arms and invoking a 
mass war. A military dictator of the right kind — the Grand 
Duke Nicholas, for example — might do much. But I can see 
no reason why her old allies should help her. Why should 
they take upon themselves the salvation of a suicide, and so 
add enormously to their obligations ? It is already nearly- 
certain that Germany must arrest the movements of her troops 
southward and westward in order to meet eventualities in 
Russia. There would be no greater advantage than this if 
Russia were to resume a futile war with the cooperation of 
her old friends. And the Allies would then have to take on 
themselves the additional burden uf guaranteeing the in- 
tegrity of Russian territory, and already they- have obliga- 
tions enough in all conscience. They are well quit of that 
one, 

But whatever may be the fate of Russia it seems certain 
that the military difficulties of Germany are largely increased. 
I have never believed that she had withdrawn any very large 
number of men from the Russian front. It seems impossible 
that she would do so at the very time when she was medi- 
tating a coup of this kind with all its problematical results. 
But she will assuredly move no more while Russia is heaving 
with indignation and threatening to resume the war. . Ger- 
many may hold the Russian army in light esteem, and prob- 
ably does so, and rightly, but she can not afford to risk the 
chance of a mass war which was the one thing that she 
dreaded in France in 1S70 after the annexation of- Alsace- 
Lorraine. She will not now feel that she has a superfluous 
man or gun on the Russian frontier. Germany must face not 
only a complication of her military plans, but .ilso of her 
peace plans. If she had been able to bully the Russian dele- 
gates into an abandonment of Poland and Lithuania she would 
then have felt herself free to be extraordinarily "magnani- 
mous" elsewhere. She could have faced her fire-eaters at 
home with full pockets, and she could have pointed with pride 
to vast territorial gains as justification for her war and com- 
pensation for its losses. In the full flush of her gains she 
could afford to wipe the slate clean in the west, and even in 
Asia Minor. She would at least have saved her face. But 
now it seems that she must fight for her intended profits in 
the east, and seeing that they are the only profits that she 
has the least chance to acquire she is not likely to relinquish 
her claims to them. She intends to recuperate herself at the 
expense of Russia. Probably she has intended nothing else 
since the Russian revolution put those profits within her reach. 
She has waited patiently until the wild-eyed Bolsheviki should 
reduce their country to impotence, and now at last she has 
presented her bill. Apparently she is to find it somewhat dif- 
ficult to collect, which is much to the military advantage of 
France, England, and Italy. But they are hardly likely to 
guarantee that it shall not be collected. Nor need we waste 
our tears over the dire perplexity of the Bolsheviki, although 
we may observe for our own advantage the sort of thing that 
Bolsheviki — and they are to be found everywhere — will do 
whenever and wherever the opportunity presents itself. 



them in by the tens of thousands on the eastern front Aus- 
trian prisoners were in a pitiable condition of cold and 
starvation, and were willing enough to describe the hardships 
incidental to the closing of the roads by snow. The winter 
seems now to have set in with its usual rigors. Reports show 
from six to nine feet of snow on the mountain roads, and 
this must imply not only the gravest transportation difficulties, 
but also the impossibility of moving the heavy artillery' either 
forward or backward. At this distance it is clearly impos- 
sible to speak with any assurance of the possibilities of a 
further Allied attack on the Teuton positions during the win- 
ter. Possibly the weather will prove more deadly than guns 
and men. But at least we may now say with certainty that 
Germany has shot her bolt in Italy and that it has failed. 
\\ e may even say that her position is now much worse than 
before the Italian offensive began. It has roused Italy from 
her comparative lethargy-. It has attracted to Italy the prac- 
tical aid and sympathy of her allies. And it has brought 
into the southern field at least half a million French and 
British troops already accustomed to the nearly unvarying se- 
quence of battle and victory. 



the policeman aside and revealed the lofty station of his 
companion. "President, is it?" snapped Mr. Officer; 
"I don't believe you, and even if it is the President he 
has no right to gather flowers in the public park." 
Here President Taft stepped up to the policeman and 
said: "You are right; I have not, and here are the 
flowers; I shall not trespass again/' and he refused to 
carry off the blooms. 



OLD FAVORITES. 



With the exception of artillery duels and of raids there has 
been no fighting on the western front, nor is there likely to 
be much until the weather shall moderate, or unless the 
ground shall be hardened by frost. But it is more than likely 
that something will happen on the Italian front, where the 
snow is a less formidable obstacle than the mud of France 
and Flanders. The Teuton armies in the Trentino are now 
in a dangerous position, and if it should be possible to strike 
a blow at them we may be sure that the opportunity will 
not be lost. The capture by the French of Mount Tomba was 
not only a considerable military feat, but it creates a strategical 
situation very adverse to the Teuton armies. Mount Tomba 
occupies a position at the point of junction between the Teuton 
lines on the Piave runping roughly north and south, and the 
other lines in the Trentino running east and west. It does 
not seem that the angle has actually been cut through, but 
at least a wedge has been driven into it that must prove 
a grave embarrassment to the defenders. There can be 
little doubt that the Teutons were not prepared for a winter 
campaign in the mountains. They reckoned confidently on 
passing the winter on the Venetian plains. They believed 
that Italy would crumble as Russia had crumbled. We may- 
be fairly sure that the Teuton schedule included the collapse 
of Russia and Italy, to be followed by peace proposals based 
unavowedly on the annexation of enough Russian territory' 
to pay the costs of the war, and whatever booty elsewhere 
the fates might permit. -But- the Italian campaign was a 
failure, while the situation in Russia would not permit of a 
further postponement of the remainder of the schedule. 
Moreover, a diplomatic triumph in Russia with the booty 
actually in the bank might prove a solace for German dis- 
appointment at the Italian fiasco and at the lack of gains 
elsewhere. It was doubtless the imminent need for a display 
of plunder that pesuaded Germany to risk the danger of a 
Russian upheaval rather than keeping Russia quiet with pro- 
longed negotiations and promises of evacuation at some un- 
specifed date, a date that would never arrive. But in the 
: me the situation in Italy is a bodeful one for the 
i armies. The capture of Mount Tomba with heavy 

isti _n losses in men and guns, and insignificant French 
its, shows that the Austrians are no more able to resist 
igorous attack than they were when Brussiloff garnered 



This is not the proper place to comment on the peace pro- 
posals that are now coming with such rapidity, except in so 
far as they- may have a direct bearing on the military situa- 
tion, as is the case with Russia. We have now a programme 
from Count Czernin ; another from the Turkish government 
with special reference to Russia ; and a third, the most im- 
portant of all, from Lloyd-George. We may be sure that 
there are others in the offing, and that Germany will now 
proceed to build steadily on the foundation laid by the 
Austro-Hungarian minister. Germany not only needs peace ; 
it has become her imperative necessity, a necessity in no way- 
concealed, but rather revealed, by wild and whirling threats, 
and the usual absurdities about the shining sword and the 
mailed fist. Indeed we may suppose that all the menaces 
of a western offensive are intended to do no more than to 
terrify, and to dispose the Allies toward a pacific attention. 
But what about Bulgaria ? Bulgaria was obviously perturbed 
by Count Czernin's repudiation of annexations, hollow as 
that repudiation is now shown to be. Bulgaria wants the 
Dobrudja and Macedonia, and Count Czernin, who is so 
solicitous for the welfare of the Turk, has not a word to 
say about either of these territories. Bulgaria seems to be 
in disgrace, and she must now have an uneasy feeling that 
her estimate of her own importance is not shared by her 
quondam friends, and that she may easily be thrown to the 
wolves if it should suit them to do so, as it probably will. 
Bulgaria has been far too independent from the military 
point of view to please either Germany or Austria. She has 
refused to send her troops out of the Balkans, and her prime 
minister recently committed the treason of remarking 
plaintively that she wanted no more than her own territory, 
that she was not in the least interested in the Mittel Europe 
scheme, and that the Berlin-Bagdad scheme left her cold and 
unmoved. Certainly it is not likely that there is any love 
lost between Teutons and Bulgarians. The Bulgarians are 
neither Slavs nor Asiatics, but a rather unsavory mixture of 
the two, with the vices of both and the virtues of neither. 
And it may be that Austria is not particularly disposed to 
see a powerful Bulgaria which might be only a shade better 
than a powerful Serbia. The policy of Austria is to keep 
all the Balkan States balanced and weak, and she may easily ' 
fear that a strong Bulgaria would eventually prove to be a 
rock in the channel. The Bulgarian nature arouses neither 
sympathy nor liking anywhere. It is cold, selfish, cruel, and 
unscrupulous. It is far inferior to that of the Turk. 
San Francisco, January' 9, 1918. Sidney Coryn. 



INDIVIDUALITIES. 



M. Colliard, minister of labor in the new French 
cabinet under Premier Clemenceau and who is sixty- 
five years of age, has been a municipal councillor of 
Lyons since 1S98. M. Colliard has specialized in social 
questions and was president of the labor committee of 
the Chamber of Deputies. 

Richard Strauss, the composer, is a Bavarian, and 
his friends are fond of remarking that Americans 
should find it in their hearts to forgive his living in 
Berlin when they know that he would like the city "if 
it were not so full of Prussians." His real home is in 
the Bavarian village Gannisch. 

A master of epigram, Clemenceau has made his 
phrases as much feared as his arguments. In his ad- 
venturous political career he has also won a number of 
sobriquets for himself. "The Overthrower of Minis- 
tries" has been the most persistent of his nicknames. 
"The Tiger" is another title that has been bestowed 
upon Clemenceau. Other nicknames are "The Stormy 
Petrel of French Politics" and the "Red Indian." And 
there was a time years ago in France when his political 
enemies cast at him the epithet, "Yankee Schoolmas- 
ter," in allusion to his residence and activities in the 
United States. 

A story which reflects the character of former Presi- 
dent Taft is told in Town Topics, as follows: One 
lovely moonlight night in spring President Taft and his 
most loved aide, Archie Butt, went for a stroll on the 
Mall. Passing a bed of hyacinths, looking mystic in 
the light and very alluring, the President remarked 
that Nellie (Mrs. Taft) would enjoy a cluster of them, 
and he gathered a generous bouquet. Just then an 
officer appeared on the scene and sharply upbraided 
the despoilers, threatening arrest. Archie quietly took 



The Feet of the Young Men. 
Now the. Four-Way Lodge is opened, now the Hunting Winds 
are loose — 
Xow the Smokes of Spring go up to clear the brain; 
Now the Young Men's hearts are troubled for the whisper of 
the Trues, 
Now the Red Gods make their medicine again! 
Who hath seen the beaver busied ? Who hath watched the 
black-tail mating ? 
Who hath lain alone to hear the wild-goose cry? 
Who hath worked the chosen water where the ouananiche is 
waiting, 
Or the sea-trout's jumping-crazy for the fly? 

He must go — go — go away from here.' 

On the other side the world he's overdue. 
'Send your road is clear before you when the old Spring-fret 
comes o'er you 

And the Red Gods call for you.' 

So for one the wet sail arching through the rainbow round 
the bow, 
And for one the creak of snow-shoes on the crust ; 
And for one the lakeside lilies where the bull-moose waits 
the cow, 
And for one the mule-train coughing in the dust. 
Who hath smelt wood-smoke at twilight? Who hath heard 
the birch-log burning? 
Who is quick to read the noises of the night ? 
Let him follow with the others, for the Young Men's feet are 
turning 
To the camps of proved desire and known delight ! 

Let him go — go, etc. 

Do you know the blackened timber — do you know that racing 
stream 
With the raw. right-angled log-jam at the end; 
And the bar of sun-warmed shingle where a man may bask 
and dream 
To the click of shod canoe-poles round the bend ? 
It is there that we are going with our rods and reels and 
traces, 
To a silent, smoky Indian that we know — 
To a couch of new-pulled hemlock, with the starlight on our 
faces, 
For the Red Gods call us out and we must go ! 

They must go — go, etc. 

Do you know the shallow Baltic where the seas are steep and 
short, 
Where the bluff, lee-boarded fishing-luggers ride ? 
Do you know the joy of threshing leagues to leeward oi 
your port 
On a coast you've lost the chart of overside ? 
It is there that I am going, with an extra hand to bale her — 

Just one able 'long-shore loafer that I know. 
He can take his chance of drowning, while I sail and_ sail and 
sail her, 
For the Red Gods call me our and I must go 1 

He must go — go, etc. 

Do you know the pile-built village where the sago-dealers 
trade — ■ 
Do you know the reek of fish and wet bamboo ? 
Do you know the steaming stillness of the orchid-scented 
glade 
When the blazoned, bird-winged butterflies flap through ? 
It is there that I am going with my camphor, net, and 
boxes, 
To a gentle, yellow pirate that I know — 
To my little wailing lemurs, to my palms and flying-foxes. 
For the Red Gods call me out and I must go ! 

He must go — go, etc. 

Do you know the world's white roof-tree — do you know that 
windy rift 
Where the baffling mountain eddies chop and change ? 
Do you know the long dav's patience, belly-down on frozen 
drift, 
While the head of heads is feeding out of range? 
It is there that I am going, where the boulders and the snow 

With a trusty, nimble tracker that I know. 
I have sworn an oath, to keep it on the Horns of Ovis Poli, 
And the Red Gods call me out and I must go ! 

He must go — go, etc 

Now the Four-way Lodge is opened — now the smokes of 
Council rise — 
Pleasant smokes, ere yet 'twixt trail and trail they choose — 
Now the girths and ropes are tested: now they pack their 
last supplies : 
Now our Young Men go to dance before the Trues ! 
Who shall meet them at those altars — who shall light them 
to that shrine ? 
Velvet-footed, who shall guide them to their goal ? 
Unto each the voice and vision : unto each his spoor and 

sign — 
Lonely mountain in the Northland, misty- sweatbath 'neath 
the Line — 
And to each a man that knows his naked soul ! 

White or yellow, black or copper, he is waiting, as a lover, 

Smoke of funnel, dust of hooves, or beat of train — 
Where the high grass hides the horseman or the glaring flats 

discover — 
Where the steamer hails the landing, or the surf-boat brings 

the rover — 
Where the rails run out in sand-drift . . . Quick! ah, 
heave the camp-kit over ! 
For the Red Gods make their medicine again ! 

And zee go — go — go away from here! 

On the other side the world we're overduel 
'Send the road is clear before you when the old Spring-fret 
conies o'er you 

And the Red Gods call for you! —Rudyard Kipling* 



Januarv 12, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



THE CRUISE OF THE CORWIN. 



John Muir Tells the Story of an Adventurous Voyage of 
Arctic Exploration. 



It is difficult for those who knew John Muir in the 
days of his age, his long flowing beard, and his vener- 
able appearance to realize that he could at one time have 
possessed so hardy a love of adventure as to wish to 
become the naturalist in a relief expedition into the 
Arctic. Yet such was the case in 1881, when the 
cruiser Corwin was sent on a search for the remains 
of Lieutenant De Long and the ill-fated Jeannette. 

"I have been interested for a long time in the 
glaciation of the Pacific Coast," he explained in a 
letter to his wife, "and I felt that I must make a trip 
of this sort some time, and no better chance could in 
any probability offer." 

At the time of the expedition Muir's association with j 
it, of course, was generally known and added much to \ 
public interest in the undertaking. Muir himself helped 
to make it known by a series of articles written from 
shipboard to the San Francisco press. These articles 
have now been assembled by Dr. William F. Bade, and, 
with the aid of Muir's journal as written en route, have 
been issued in a very delightful book entitled "The 
Cruise of the Corwin." 

The compiler modestly contents himself with an "In- 
troduction," and leaves the rest to be told entirely by 
Muir; and Muir quickly carries the reader into the 
Arctic environment. For example, as the Corwin first 
reaches the Alaskan waters he writes: 

How cold it is this morning ! How it blows and snows ! 
It is not "the wolf's long howl on Unalaska's shore," as 
Campbell has it, but the wind's long howl. A more sus- 
tained, prolonged, screeching, raving howl I never before 
heard. But the little Corwin rides on through it in calm 
strength, rising and falling amid the foam-streaked waves 
like a loon. 

Also he gives a glimpse into his own inner self that 
explains much of his power of contentment in the 
many years away from his family and alone in the 
wilds. For, writing" to his wife from the cabin of the 
Corwin, he says : 

All goes well on our little ship and not all the tossing of 
the waves, and the snow and hail on the deck, and being out 
of sight of land so long, can make me surely feel that I 
am not now with you all as ever, so sudden was my de- 
parture, and so long have I been accustomed in the old 
lonely life to feel the influence of loved ones as if present 
in the flesh, while yet far. 

Arrived at Unalaska, the naturalist vividly describes 
the scenic surroundings: 

Early in the forenoon the clouds had lifted and the sun 
had come out, revealing a host of noble mountains, grandly 
sculptured and composed, and robed in spotless white, some 
of the highest adorned with streamers of mealy snow waver- 
ing in the wind — a truly glorious spectacle. To me the fea- 
tures of greatest interest in this imposing show were the gla- 
cial advertisements everywhere displayed in clear, telling 
characters — the trends of the numerous inlets and canons 
pointing back into the ancient ice-fountains among the peaks, 
the sculpture of the peaks themselves and their general out- 
lines, and the shorn faces of the cliffs fronting the sea. No 
clearer and more unmistakable glacial inscriptions are to be 
found upon any portion of the mountain ranges of the Pacific 
Coast. 

Muir decides, after but brief examination, that the 
Alaskan peninsula, "before the coming on of the glacial 
period, may have comprehended the whole of the 
Aleutian chain" ; then he passes into most entertaining 
descriptions of the life of those regions in the days pre- 
ceding the Dawson gold strikes: 

In most of the huts that I entered I found a Yankee 
clock, a few pictures, and ordinary cheap crockery and fur- 
niture; accordions, also, as they are very fond of music. All 
such bits of furniture and finery of foreign manufacture con- 
trast meanly with their own old-fashioned kind. Altogether, 
in dress and home gear, they are so meanly mixed, savage 
and civilized, that they make a most pathetic impression. 
The moisture rained down upon them every- other day keeps 
the walls and the roof green, even flowery, and as perfectly 
fresh as the sod before it was built into a hut. Goats, once 
introduced by the Russians, make these hut tops their favorite 
play and pasture grounds, much to the annoyance of their 
occupants. In one of these huts I saw for the first time 
arrowheads manufactured out of bottle glass. The edges are 
chipped by hard pressure with a bit of deer horn. 

Further on Muir alludes to the effects of contact 
with the whites incident to the seal hunting and the 
service for the great fur companies : 

There are about two thousand of them scattered along the 
chain of islands, living in small villages. Nearly all the 
men are hunters of the fur seal, the most expert making five 
hundred dollars or more per season. After paying old debts 
contracted with the companies, they invest the remainder in 
trinkets, in clothing not so good as their own furs, and in 
beer, and go at once into hoggish dissipation, hair-pulling, 
wife-beating, etc. In a few years their health becomes im- 
paired, they become less successful in hunting, their chil- 
dren are neglected and die, and they go to ruin generally. 
When they toss in their kayaks among surf-beaten rocks 
where their prey dwells, their business requires steady nerve. 
But all the proceeds are spent for what is worse than useless. 
The best hunters have been furnished with frame cottages 
by the companies. These cottages have a neat appearance 
outside, but are very foul inside. Rare exceptions are those 
in which one finds scrubbed floors or flowers in pots on 
window-sills and mantels. 

Throughout the passage of the Corwin from the 
Alaskan to the Siberian shores Muir keeps his atten- 
tion closely riveted upon the glacial evidences which he 
declares are visible everywhere, but he never fails to 
suffuse his narrative with delightful sketches of places 
and peoples. He portrays the reluctance of the Eskimo 
guide to leave his family and ..drive -the dogs over the 



deep, soft snow in what he deems a hunt for men long 
since dead; the little son of the guide is shown clinging 
to his father's legs and, although but a year and a half 
old, "trying to talk to him while looking up in his 
face" ; the mother "with tears running down her cheeks" 
— a scene which leads Muir to remark : "One touch of 
nature makes the whole world kin, and here were many 
touches among the wild Chukchis." Muir further 
notes : 

The mannerly reserve and unhasting dignity of all these 
natives when food is set before them is very striking as 
compared with the ravenous, snatching haste of the hungry 
poor among the whites. Even the children look wistfully at 
the heap of bread, without touching it until invited, and 
then eat very slowly as if not hungry at all. Nor do they 
ever need to be told to wait. Even when a year of famine 
occurs from any cause, they endure it with fortitude such 
as would be sought for in vain among the civilized, and after 
braving the most intense cold of these dreary ice-bound 
coasts in search of food, if unsuccessful, they wrap them- 
selves in their furs and die quietly as if only going to sleep. 

At Lawrence Bay, in Siberia, the Corwin was visited 
by the natives, among whom was one whose gifts are 
thus described: 

The old orator poured forth his noisy eloquence late and 
early,' like a perennial mountain spring, some of his deep 
chest tones sounding in the storm like the roar of a Hon. 
He rolled his wolfish eyes and tossed his brown skinny limhs 
in a frantic storm of gestures, now suddenly foreshortening 
himself to less than half his height, then shooting aloft with 
jack-in-the-box rapidity, while his people looked on and 
listened, apparently half in fear, half in admiration. We di- 
rected the interpreter to tell him that we thought him a good 
man, and were, therefore, concerned lest some accident might 
befall him from so much hard speaking. The Chukchis, as 
well as the Eskimos we have seen, are keenly sensitive to 
ridicule, and this suggestion disconcerted him for a moment 
and made a sudden pause. However, he quickly recovered 
and got under way again, like a wave withdrawing on a 
shelving shore, only to advance and break again with gathered 
force. 

Traces of two whaling vessels which the Corwin had 
been commissioned to hunt at the same time with the 
search for the Jeannette were first encountered at the 
Chukchi village of Tapkan, Muir describing the dis- 
covery as follows: 

Three natives then came forward and stated through the 
interpreter that last year, when they were out hunting seals 
on the ice, about five miles frtmi the land, near the little 
island which they call Konkarpo, at the time of the year 
when the new ice begins to grow in the sea, and when the 
sun does not rise, they saw a big ship without masts in the 
ice-pack, which they reached without difficulty and climbed 
on deck. The masts, they said, had been chopped down - , and 
there was a pair of horns on the end of the jib-boom, indi- 
cating the position of them on a sketch of a ship. The hold, 
they said, was full of water so that they could not go down 
into it to see anything, but they broke a way into the cabin 
and found four dead men, who had been dead a long time. 
Three of them were lying in bunks, and one on the floor. 

Muir pauses in his narrative of the search to de- 
scribe a pathetic scene of starvation and death among 
the Siberian natives: 

We found twelve desolate huts close to the beach with about 
two hundred skeletons in them or strewn about on the rocks 
and rubbish heaps within a few yards of the doors. The 
scene was indescribably ghastly and desolate, though laid in 
a country purified by frost as by fire. Gulls, plovers, and 
ducks were swimming and flying about in happy life, the 
pure salt sea was dashing white against the shore, the bloom- 
ing tundra swept back to the snow-clad volcanoes, and the 
wide azure sky bent kindly over all — nature intensely fresh 
and sweet, the village lying in the foulest and most glaring 
death. The shrunken bodies, with rotting furs on them, or 
white, bleaching skeletons, picked bare by the crows, were 
lying mixed with kitchen-midden rubbish where they had 
been cast out by surviving relatives while they yet had 
strength to carry them. 

In the huts those who had been the last to perish were 
found in bed, lying evenly side by side, beneath their rotting 
deerskins. A grinning skull might be seen looking out here 
and there, and a pile of skeletons in a corner, laid there 
no doubt when no one was left strong enough to carry them 
through the narrow underground passageway to the door. 
Thirty were found in one house, about half of them piled 
like firewood in a corner, the other half in bed, seeming as 
if they had met their fate with tranquil apathy. 

While the Corwin is back in port at St. Michael 
Muir writes an instructive chapter on the Alaskan tun- 
dra, of which he says : 

. The tundra is composed of a close sponge of mosses about 
a foot deep, with lichens growing on top of the mosses, 
and a thin growth of grasses and sedges and most of the 
flowering plants mentioned above, with others not then in 
bloom. The moss rests upon a stratum of solid ice. and the 
ice on black vesicular lava, ridges of which rise here and 
there above the spongy mantle of moss, and afford ground 
for plants that like a dry soil. There are hollows, too, be- 
neath the general level along which grow tall aspidiums, 
grasses, sedges, larkspurs, alders, and willows — the alders five 
or six inches in diameter and from eight to ten feet high, 
the largest timber I have seen since leaving California. 

As the ship makes "zigzags among the polar pack" 
in its steady quest for some signs of the lost explorers 
Muir tells of a quest for fossils on Herald Island: 

I spent the forenoon along the face of the shore cliffs, 
seeking fossils. Discovered only four, all plants. Went three 
miles westward. Heavy snowbank, leaning back in the shadow 
most of the distance, almost changing to ice: very deep and 
of several years' formation — not less than forty feet in many 
places.' The cliffs or bluffs are from two hundred to nearly 
four hundred feet high, composed of sandstone, coal, and 
conglomerate, the latter predominating. Great thickness of 
sediments ; a mile or more visible on upturned edges, which 
give a furrow surface by unequal weatherings. Some good 
bituminous coal ; burns well. Veins forty feet thick, more 
or less interrupted by clayey or sandy strata. Fossils not 
abundant. 

This Herald Island, a mountainous body, was after- 
ward ascended for purposes of observation, but the 
observation added nothing to the ship's quest : 

We looked carefully everywhere for traces of the crew of 



the Jeannette along the shore, as well as on the prominent 
headlands and cliffs about the summit, without discovering 
the faintest sign of their ever having touched the island. 

Wrangell Land was visited in the hope of finding 
some traces of De Long there, because De Long had 
expected to make his way northward along the east 
coast of this island and leave a series of cairns as he 
proceeded. But little was gained from the visit, be- 
yond rescuing some whaling parties which had suffered 
disastrous shipwreck. 

Vainly the CorK in continued its cruise, and in Au- 
gust turned back from Siberia to Wrangell Land, only 
to be baffled here by storms and ice: 

We therefore sailed along the edge of the pack to the east- 
ward to see what might be accomplished towards our first 
landing place. We gazed at the long stretch of wilderness 
which spread invitingly before us, and which we were so 
eager to explore — the rounded, glaciated bosses and foothills, 
the mountains, with their ice-sculptured features of hollows 
and ridges and long withdrawing valleys, which in former 
visits we had sketched, and scaned so attentively through 
field-glasses, and which now began to wear a familiar look. 
The sky was overcast, the land seemed almost black in the 
gloomy light, and a heavy swell began to be felt coming in 
from the northeast. Towards night, when we were not far 
from our old landing near the easternmost extremity of the 
land, the Corwin was hove to, waiting for the morning before 
attempting to seek a way in. But the next day, August 31st, 
was stormy. The wind from the northeast blew hard inshore, 
therefore it was not considered safe to approach too near. 

For four days the Corwin battled with this threatened 
storm, hoping to break through and make a landing: 
but the vessel by this time was in bad condition and 
had no alternative save to put back for San Francisco. 

On the return trip Muir made many scientific ob- 
servations. At Elephant Point, for instance: 

When one walks along the base of the formation — which 
is about a mile or so in length — making one's way over piles 
of rotten humus and through sloppy bog mud of the con- 
sistence of watery porridge, mixed with bones of elephants, 
buffaloes, musk oxen, etc., the ice so closely resembles the 
wasting snout of a glacier, with its jaqrged projecting ridges, 
ledges, and small, dripping, tinkling rills, that it is not easy 
to realize that it is not one in ordinary action. 

Mingled with the true glacier ice we notice masses of 
j dirty stratified ice. made up of clean layers alternating with 
layers of mud and sand, and mingled with bits of humus 
and sphagnum, and of leaves and stems of the various plants 
that grow on the tundra above. This dirty ice of peculiar 
stratification never blends into the glacier ice. but is simply 
frozen upon it filling cavities or spreading over slopes here 
and there. It is formed by the freezing of films of clear and 
dirty water from the broken edge of the tundra, a process 
going on every spring and autumn, when frosts and thaws 
succeed each other night and morning, cloudy days and sunny 
days. This, of course, is of comparatively recent age, even 
the oldest of it. 

A striking result of the shaking up and airing and draining 
of the tundra soil is seen on the face of the ice slopes and 
terraces. When the undermined tundra material rolls down 
upon those portions of the ice front where it can come to 
rest, it is well buffeted and shaken, and frequently lies up- 
side down as if turned with "a plow. Here it is well drained 
through resting on melting ice, and though not more that* 
a foot or two in thickness, it produces a remarkably close and 
tall growth of grass, four to six feet high, and as lush and 
broad-leaved as may be found in any farmer's field. Cut for 
hay it would make about four or five tons per acre. 

The letters close with a description of Mount Maku- 
shin, but perhaps, from a human point of view, greater 
interest will attach to the description of the Aleuts on 
the preceding page: 

The huts of the Aleuts here are very picturesque at this 
time of the year. The grass grows tall over the sides and 
the roof, waving in the wind, and making a fine fringe about 
the windows and the door. When the church bell rings on 
Sunday and the good calico-covered people plod sedately forth 
to worship, and the cows on the hillside moo blandly, and 
the sun shines over the green slopes, then the scene is like a 
bit of New England or old Scotland. But later in the day. 
when the fiery kvass is drunk, and the accordions and co:»- 
certinas and cheap music boxes are in full blast, then the 
noise and unseemly clang attending drunkenness is not at 
all like a Scotch sabbath. 

Most of the Aleuts have an admixture of Russian blood. 
Many of them dance well. Three balls were given during 
our stay here, that is to say, American balls with native 
women. The Aleuts have their own dances in their small 
huts. 

Throughout the volume are excellent reproductions 
of the sketches made by Muir on the voyage; also there 
are some excellent photographs of places of interest. 

The Cruise of the Corwix. Bv John Muir. Bos- 
ton : Houghton Mifflin Company ; $2.25 net. 



It has been found that the phenomena known as 
"breathing wells." or "blowing wells." are due to dif- 
ferences in atmospheric or barometric pressure. The 
necessary conditions seem to be a porous stratum, such 
as sandstone, gravel, or porous limestone, only par- 
tially saturated with water overlain by some imper- 
vious substance such as shale or clay. While the at- 
mospheric pressure is high the air enters the well and 
collects in the upper part of the porous stratum above 
the water level. While the barometric pressure is low 
the air is expelled with considerable force, producing 
what is known as "blowing." This blowing frequently 
occurs during storm periods or when the wind is in a 
certain direction or during certain periods of the day. 



Music was cultivated in Ireland with the greatest 
care from the earliest times down to the reign of Queen 
Elizabeth. During her reign and that of her imme- 
diate successor. James I (now three hundred vears 
ago), the Irish chieftains and nobles who had 
patronized the bards and harpers, were" either 
banished, and from that time the culti 
Irish music began to decline. 



22 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 12, 1918. 



ESTABLISHED 1858 



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YIELDING FROM 

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BUSINESS NOTES. 



For the week of five business days ended 
Saturday, January Sth, the San Francisco 
Clearing House Association reports a total of 
$96,348,103.86. compared with $80,852,127.25 
in the corresponding week in 1917. 



Total resources of the Federal Reserve 
Bank of San Francisco at the close of busi- 
ness on January 4, 1918, were $165,238,000, 



McDonnell & co. 

Members 
New York Stock Exchange 
New York Cotton Exchange 
San Francisco Stock and Bond 
Exchange 

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Free from 
Income Tax 

To Yield 41/2^ to 6% 

List on request 

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as compared with $160,408,000 at the close 
of the last week in December. Gold reserves 
now stand at $98,045,000, as compared with 
$92,495,000, or 70.85 per cent, of net deposits 
and note liability. This is a big improve- 
ment over the preceding week, and it shows 
that the bank is growing in strength and use- 
fulness. 

The consolidated statement of the twelve 



E. F. BUTTON & CO. 

Home Office, 61 Broadway 

Branches: 

WOOLWORTH BUILDING 

PLAZA HOTEL 

NEW YORK 



MEMBERS : 
New York Stock Exchange 
New York Cotton Exchange 
New Orleans Cotton Exchange 
Liverpool Cotton Association 
Chicago Board of Trade 

CALIFORNIA OFFICES: 

490 California Street 

St. Francis Hotel 

Bond Department, 343 Powell Street 

San Francisco 

First National Bank Building 

Oakland 

118 West Fourth Street 

Alexandria Hotel 

Los Angeles 

Hotel Maryland 

Pasadena 



Through Private Wire 
California Points to New York 



Federal Reserve Banks at the close of 1917 
shows resources of $3,101,471,000, gold re- 
serve of $1,671,133,000, gross deposits of 
$1,771,037,000, and earnings assets of $1,064,- 
310,000. 

In the year 1917 California bank clearings 
were greatest on record, with a grand total 
for eleven reporting cities of $7,295,714,819. 



Bond & Goodwin 

COMMERCIAL PAPER 
BONDS 



,54 CALIFORNIA STREET 
SAN FRANCISCO 



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rtEW YORK 



CHICAGO 
MINNEAPOLIS 



SEATTLE 
PHILADELPHIA 



But the big, outstanding fact is that San 
Francisco bank clearings were double those of 
ten other reporting cities, inclusive of Los An- 
geles. For the twelve months San Francisco 
clearings aggregated $4,837,854,596, while the 
combined clearings of the ten other cities 
amounted to $2,457,860,223. 



As our war financing progresses, the value 
to the nation of the new Federal reserve sys- 
tem becomes more clearly evident. Two 
Liberty Loan flotations have become land- 
marks in the financial history of the country — 
the first for $2,000,000,000 and the second for 
$3,808,766,150 — a total of nearly six billion of 
government financing in four months in addi- 
tion to sales of short-term treasury bills direct 
to the banks. The transferring of this un- 
precedented amount to the government has 
been accomplished with hardly a ripple in the 
money market. Without the Federal reserve 
system, with its reduced reserve requirements 
and provision for rediscounting commercial 
paper, this would have been impossible. The 
confidence established among bankers by the 
enactment of this law in 1913 is what, in the 
opinion of many, enabled us to withstand the 
financial shock of the outbreak of the war in 
Europe. This was true even though the sys- 
tem was not yet in operation in July, 1914. 
The aid it has rendered in the financing of our 
own large part in the war in 1917 has com- 
pletely fortified that confidence ; there is now 
no doubt that the banks can do their share 
in the enormous war financing to come, pro- 
vided the public does it part. 

The great credit facilities of the new Fed- 
eral banking system must not be used per- 
manently to finance the war. The people must 
pay the war bill ; the banks simply help them 
do it. At periods between government loans, 
like the present, the credits extended by banks 
to aid Liberty Bond purchases should be con- 
tracted. Thus can we be sure of keeping 
financially sound. The National City Bank of 
New York in its December bulletin pointed to 
the increase in loans of the New York Clear- 
ing House banks (from $3,756,000,000 on Au- 
gust 4th to $4,838,935,000 on December 1st), 
and to the total earning assets of the twelve 
Federal Reserve Banks (largely discounted 
paper) from $374,266,000 on August 3d, to 
$1,052,436,000 on December 1st. This expan- 
sion was due in the main to the second Lib- 
erty Loan financing and the National City 
Bank says: "These figures should be reduced 
before another loan is brought out." If the 
experience of the Reserve banks in regard to 
the first is repeated, this will be done before 
March — when the third loan is expected. 
Discounts of the Federal Reserve Bank of 
New York, for instance, which rose from $37,- 
000,000 on June 1st to $252,000,000 on June 
19th, due to the first loan, were reduced to 
$62,000,000 by the middle of August 

One of the most important developments in 
the field of banking has been the entrance 
within the past few months of many of the 
leading trust companies into the Federal re- 
serve system. Their motives for joining were 
largely patriotic and in response to President 
Wilson's request that they do so, but those 
which do commercial banking as well as trust 
business will receive direct benefits from mem- 
bership in the reserve system. They had not 
joined before because they could not do so 
and retain their broad powers under their 
state charters. Last June, however, the Fed- 
eral Reserve Act was amended to permit state 
banks and trust companies to become members 
and still retain their full charter and statutory 
rights and continue to exercise all corporate 
powers granted by the states in which they 
were created. They must, however, keep the 
reserve required by the act on deposit in the 
reserve bank of their district; that is where 
the benefit to the nation from their entering 
the system comes in. It concentrates the gold 
of the country in the Federal Reserve Banks 
where it can be used to best advantage as a 
foundation for credit. It unifies our banking 
facilities under a system which has already 
proven of great worth. It makes us stronger 
financially to defeat Germany. The state in- 
stitutions which enter the reserve system will, 
moreover, enjoy lower discount rates for their 
acceptances, and will have the privilege of re- 
discounting commercial paper at the reserve 
banks — generally at a profit to themselves. 
They will be able to borrow at a moment's 
notice from the reserve bank, and therefore 
they can lend down much nearer to their re- 
quired reserve and yet be better protected and 
feel more secure than before they joined. 



McDonnell & Co. announce that they are 
offering a well-selected list of municipal, irri- 
gation, and reclamation district bonds. The 
issues offered yield from 4.50 to 6 per cent., 
all of them being tax exempt. 



President John Barneson has informed the 
stockholders of the General Petroleum Cor- 
poration that the proceeds from the sales of 
large tracts of Fresno County lands of that 
company will be paid into the company's sink- 
ing fund, to be used to retire the remainder 
of the General Petroleum Corporation first 



mortgage bonds. After their retirement, pro- 
ceeds from land sales will apply to the re- 
tirement of the bonds of the General Pipe 
Line Company. The Coalinga lands, which 
have been sold, are remote from the com- 
pany's pipe line facilities. 

"These payments," President Barneson says, 
"will relieve the income of the General Pe- 
troleum Corporation from annual interest 
charges amounting to $54,000 on General Pe- 
troleum Corporation bonds and payments to 
the sinking fund, amounting to $150,000 per 
annum, and, later, of interest requirements on 
the bonded indebtedness of the General Pipe 
Line Company to the extent that these bonds 
may be retired." 

The recorded cost of building construction 
in San Francisco in 1917 was $15,635,319, ac- 
cording to the report made Saturday by John 
P. Horgan, chief of the bureau of building 
inspection in the board of works. In spite 
of the war conditions the decrease in con- 
struction in 1917, as compared with 1916, was 
less than 15 per cent., the record for 1916 
having been $18,230,000. 



Exports for 1917 were estimated by the De- 
partment of Commerce Saturday to have 
passed the $6,000,000,000 mark, establishing a 
new high record. Imports were less than 
$3,000,000,000, indicating a probable trade bal- 
ance in favor of the United States of more 
than $3,150,000,000. 

The country's gold supply showed a smaller 
increase than last year, because of the substi- 
tution of credits for cash in handling Allied 
purchases after the United States entered the 
war. Imports of gold in March amounted to 
$139,000,000, but in November they were less 
than $3,000,000. The total for the year was 
estimated at $537,000,000, as compared with 
$686,000,000 in 1915. 

Exports of gold showed a heavy increase 
over the preceding twelve months, due chiefly 
to the large movement to Japan. Spain, and 
South American countries. The total was es- 
timated at $374,000,000, compared with $155,- 
000,000 last year. 

International trade of 1917 will show a 
larger total than in any earlier year. This 
estimate, appearing in "The Americas," issued 
by the National Bank of New York, is the 
result of a careful review of all available 
figures of world trade for the year 1917. It 
includes eleven months' actual figures for the 
United States and United Kingdom, ten 
months for Canada, and somewhat shorter 
periods for the other principal countries, cov- 
ering, however, a sufficient proportion of the 
year to justify an estimate that the total inter- 
national trade of the year will be the largest 
in history. In the case of the United States 
the total trade of the year is estimated at 
approximately nine billion dollars against less 
than four billions in 1913. In Great Britain 
the total for eleven months is over seven bil- 
lion dollars, against five and three-quarter bil- 
lion dollars in 1913. Canada's total for ten 
months ending with October is over two bil- 
lion dollars against $88,000,000 in the same 
months of 1913, and Japan for the nine 
months ending with September $914,000,000, 
against $507,000,000 in the corresponding 
months of 1913. For France no official figures 
are available for .1917, though the imports es- 
timated by an examination of figures of ex- 
ports from other countries to France are ap- 
parently about 50 per cent, more than in 1913. 
In the Central Powers no official figures are 
available, though it is known that their over- 
sea trade is, of course, cut off ; they have im- 
ported very largely from adjacent neutral 
countries and the exchanges between the coun- 
tries forming the group now known as the 
"Central Powers" have also been very great. 
In the Allied countries a part of their trade, 
that conducted by or on behalf of the govern- 
ment, has been ommitted from the official 
figures. 

The largest change is that of the Allies. 
The total trade of Great Britain, France. Italy, 
Russia, United States, Canada, and Japan in 
1913 was a little more than eighteen billion 
dollars, while the figures thus far reported for 
the current year suggest that their total for 
1917 may approximate twenty-five billion dol- 
lars. 

The neutral sections of the world show 
little change in their grand total of trade in 
1917 as compared with 1913, though there are 
marked changes in its characteristics. In 
South America the imports of 1917 are far 
below those of 1913, in which year th^e im- 
ports of that continent were the highest in its 
history. The imports of all South America 
in 1913 exceded one billion dollars, and the 
1917 official reports from that continent up 
to this time indicate that the total imports of 
1917 will be little more than half those -of 
1913, though the 1917 exports will apparently 
exceed those of 1913 by about 25 per cent. 



McDonnell & Co. were advised Tuesday, 
January Sth, by William Morris Imbrie & Co. 
that the Savannah sugar plant is not yet ope- 
rating. Shipments of sugar from Cuba were^ 



F. M. BROWN & CO. 

HIGH GRADE 

Investment Securities 

Government, State. Municipal 
and Corporation 

BONDS 

300 Sansome Street. San Francisco, Cal. 

List of Current Offerings on Application. 



expected toward the middle of December and 
then toward the end of December. However, 
to date no sugar has arrived. It is probably 
only a question of days before sugar will be 
received and the plant operating. They say, 
furthermore, that Savannah Sugar is as well 
fixed as any other company as regards sugar. 



Up to December 1st $29,824,655 had been 
paid out to farmers on 5 per cent, long-time 
loans, according to a report covering the ope- 
rations of the twelve Federal Land Banks. 
The total of loans approved, including those 
closed and those awaiting verification of title 
and other formalities, is $105,136,529. 

The interest rate under the farm loan sys- 
tem has been increased from 5 to 5Ji per 
cent., to apply to all applications which have 
not yet been approved. 

Borrowing is done through cooperative 
farm loan associations organized by farmers, 
each association being composed of ten or 
more farmer-borrowers and each group bor- 
rowing at least $20,000. Up to December 1st 
the Farm Loan Board had chartered 1839 such 
cooperative associations. 



The San Francisco Stock and Bond Ex- 
change opened for business on the ground 
floor of the new building, corner of Mont- 
gomery and Sumner Streets, on Monday, Jan- 



Member the Stock and Bond Exchange 

Telephone Sutter 2337 

LUCIUS H. NORRIS 

Stocks, Bonds and 
Investment Securities 

LOCAL AND EASTERN 

255 Montgomery St., San Francisco 



uary 7th. The new quarters were opened 
without any unusual formalities, and after a 
brief address by Robert C. Bolton, president 
of the exchange, business proceded as usual. 
The new building is fitted up with every mod- 
ern improvement and most conveniently ar- 
ranged for the conduct of the stock and bond 
business. 

Cuba today presents a very unusual oppor- 
tunity to American manufacturers of jewelry 
and silverware. The island is exceptionally 
prosperous, as a result in great measure of 
the high prices that have been paid in the 
last few years for sugar, which is its chief 
product. Cubans are fond of jewelry, and are 
lavish in their expenditures for it Their 
fashions especially favor the wearing of such 
articles. 

"The Cuban markets are open today to 
American manufacturers because Europe is 
shipping little or nothing on account of the 
war," says Special Agent S. W. Rosenthal of 
the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Com- 
merce, who is now investigating Latin-Ameri- 
can markets for jewelry. "In normal times 
Germany supplied about 75 per cent, of the 
jewelry imported by this country, while noth- 
ing is being shipped from there today. Since 
the beginning of the war several small jew- 
elry factories have been started in Cuba, but 
these operate principally in platinum goods set 
with precious stones." 



(WIN AND MILLER 

Municipal and Corporation 

BONDS 



Send for selected list of high 
grade tax free investments. 

KOHL BUILDING 

SAN FRANCISCO 



January 12, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



23 



AMERICA MEETS FRANCE. 



A Study in Relationships Between the Old and 
the New. 



(The following is extracted from an article 
in the New Republic, by Elizabeth Shepley 
Sergeant) 

More and more is it borne in upon me that 
we have a great deal to live up to, to compen- 
sate for the inconvenience of our mere 
physical presence. What is not expected of 
the descendants of Washington and Lincoln? 
Up to the spring of 1917 we had been here in 
relatively small numbers, and, whether in the 
army, in the hospitals, or in relief work, we 
were volunteers and guests who generally pos- 
sessed long pocket-books, European outlooks 
and fluency in the French tongue. Now, on 
the contrary, we arrive as those having a 
right here and a duty ; yet we are generally 
ignorant of the language and daily habits of 
our ally and try instinctively and immediately 
to transform his ancient, hand-made, delicately 
adjusted civilization — a civilization which, in 
spite of this long invasion, appears to have 
remained practically intact — into the hyper- 
modern, 10,000-horsepower, free and easy 
terms of Kansas, California, and New York. 

That is, theoretically at least, what the 
French themselves desire. Not only our 
democracy, our confident and generous youth, 
our vitality of mind, our fertility of inven- 
tion, our vast material prosperity, but our ef- 
ficiency and our scientific method have been 
a lyric theme, and it is felt that, especially in 
the industrial world, we can help to break 
many ancestral chains. Yet one hopes that 
some lover of the comcdie httmaine is making 
notes against a less solemn hour of the actual 
encounter between the French manufacturer 
who points with pride to a factory unchanged 
since his grandfather's day and the American 
capitalist who asks when he is going to tear 
it down; between the New York business man, 
accustomed in five minutes' telephone con- 
versation to start a train of events which 
will culminate within a week, and the French 
administrative official who, though war keeps 
him at his office from 8 a. m. to 9 p. m., has 
not abandoned his habit of longhand letters, 
long polite conversations, and long-deferred 
decisions; between the French peasant who 
makes his toilet in the barnyard, keeps his 
gold in a stocking, and lives frugally on vege- 
table soup in a house inherited from a revo- 
lutionary ancestor, and the sergeant from 
Ohio brought up in an apartment on enameled 
bathtubs and beefsteak, and who always pays 
with a check ; between the poilu who has been 
holding two-thirds of the western front and 
a good share of the Oriental front through 
these bitter years on his pay oi five sous a 
day, and the American private who finds the 
accumulation of his $1.25's scarcely sufficient 
to storm the biggest town near his camp on 
a Saturday night and drive French colonels 
from their accustomed chairs to make way for 
his champagne supper. 

The fact is that France and America are 
exactly in the position of two people who 
have become engaged by correspondence and 
are meeting for the first time in the flesh. 
The color of our hair, our fashion of blowing 
our noses, are mutually disconcerting. Yet 
to state these differences is to overstate them ; 
they are only worth noting — deliberately from 
the French point of view — because we are 
committed, for the success of our effort here, 
to a common liberal understanding such as 
has seldom united two alien nations. On the 
cordially cooperative lines already established 
by the American Clearing House and by the 



American Ambulance Service, which brought 
young America into such living contact with 
the rank and file of the French army, the 
American Red Cross — that vast and powerful 
organization — and the American army are 
working out their daily routine; and though 
France has lost the habit of public demonstra- 
tion — not a flag, or a cry after the victory of 
Verdun, not a protest in the trains or streets 
during the recent gravest hoar of the war, 
when vast numbers of French troops were 
sent off to Italy — the name of President Wil- 
son can not be mentioned in a French gather- 
ing without long applause. It is impossible to 
persuade the citizen of the "liberated" part 
of northern France that we alone did not 
save him from starvation. The Belgian Re- 
lief Commission is known to him as the 
Ravitaillement Amcricain. As for the French 
woman of the people, that wrinkled and 
brown old sibyl from whose lips falls much 
of the wisdom of the race, she sees our "boys" 
arriving with a deep astonishment, and a 
deeper pity : 

'"I saw them at the movies," said my 
washerwoman, "such fine, big fellows — I 
couldn't bear to look at them. 'First ours, 
now yours,' I said to myself. Why did their 
mothers send them over to be killed? Why?" 

"But this is our war, too. . . ." 

"You believe that? So far away? . . . 
But if you knew how we feel. . . . My 
Pierre, when he went back from his Septem- 
ber permission — it's not gay going back to a 
fourth winter in the mud. 'T'en fats pas,' he 
told me, 'Us sont la, les petits Amcricains.' 
It's they who are going to save us." 

Americans will gradually come to realize 
that they are doing Frenchmen an injustice 
in romanticizing their cause. They have gone 
about their job of soldiering as they used to 
do that of peasant, professor, workman, with 
absolutely no sense of being supermen. In- 
deed their daily effort is to minimize their 
pain, conceal their wounds under a twisted 
smile. (Said the heir to a great name, di- 
recting us to the ruins of his ancestral cha- 
teau, which the Germans had blown up with 
dynamite : "Vous allez rigoler" — in Broad- 
way English, "It's a scream !") If we can 
ever realize to what degree they are men and 
galantes gens, who have in blood and terri- 
tory borne the brunt of the war, and still 
bear it steadfastly, we shall be doing them 
all the honor they deserve. 



There is an English chemist who specializes 
in indelible pencils, and his services are often 
called upon in criminal and civil trials. He 
can analyze an indelible pencil mark and de- 
termine what kind of pencil made it and 
where the pencil was manufactured. Re- 
cently his testimony was instrumental in con- 
victing a man of murder, by proving that a 
few words scrawled on a bit of paper in the 
death chamber were written by the same un- 
usual kind of an indelible pencil that the mur- 
derer had in his possession. According to 
this specialist, the writing material in differ- 
ent indelible pencils differs considerably in 
chemical compositions. 



The New York shopping public is credited 
by the department stores with having co- 
operated splendidly in the endeavor of the 
stores to eliminate the return-goods evil. 
There has been a noticeable decrease in the 
percentage of needless returns. The public, 
as a whole, has shopped more carefully and 
has assisted the merchants in their endeavor 
to do away with the waste caused by returns 
of this kind. 



The Crocker National Bank 

OF SAN FRANCISCO 

Condition at Close of Business December 31, 1917 
RESOURCES 

Loans and Discounts $21,828,798.56 

U. S. Bonds 1,958,000.00 

Other Bonds and Securities 4,240.392.07 

Capital Stock in Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco 150,000.00 

Customers' Liability under Letters of Credit 3,294,515.74 

Cash and Sight Exchange 12,770,238.81 



$44,241,945.18 

LIABILITIES 

Capital t $ 2,000,000.00 

Surplus and Undivided Profits 4,206,811.41 

Circulation 1,972.900.00 

Letters of Credit 3,324,600.62 

Deposits 32,737,633.15 



$44,241,945.18 
OFFICERS 

WM. H. CROCKER, President 

JAS. J. FAGAN Vice-President G. W. EBNER Assistant Cashier 

W. GREGG, JR. . .Vice-President and Cashier J- £■ DEAN Assistant Cashier 

T „ ,. /-ad^*d \r- r> -j » J- M - MASTEN Assistant Cashier 

J. B. McCARGAR Vice-President D . j. MURPHY Assistant Cashier 

JOHN CLAUSEN Vice-President F. G. WILLIS Assistant Cashier 



H. C. SIMPSON Asst. Manager Foreign Dept. 



G. FERIS BALDWIN Auditor 



BOARD OF DIRECTORS 

WM. H. CROCKER JAS. J. FAGAN CHAS. E. GREEN 

CHARLES T. CROCKER GEORGE W. SCOTT W. GREGG, JR. 

A. F. MORRISON S. F. B. MORSE 



CURRENT VERSE. 

Peace Over Earth Again. 
Rejoice, world of troubled men; 
For peace is coming back again — 
Peace to the trenches running red. 
Peace to the hosts of the fleeing dead. 
Peace to the fields where hatred raves, 
Peace to the trodden battle-graves. 

'Twill be the peace the Master left 
To hush the world of peace bereft — 
The peace proclaimed in lyric cries 
That night the angels broke the skies. 
Again the shell-torn hills will be 
All green with barley to the knee; 
And little children sport and run 
In love once more with earth and sun. 
Again in rent and ruined trees 
Young leaves will sound like silver seas; 
And birds now stunned by the red uproar 
Will build in happy boughs once more; 
And to the bleak uncounted graves 
The grass will run in silken waves; 
And a great hush will softly fall 
On tortured plain and mountain wall, 
Now wild with cries of battling hosts 
And curses of the fleeing ghosts. 

And men will wonder over it — 
This red upflaming of the Pit; 
And they will gather as friends and say, 
"Come, let us try the Master's way. 
Ages we tried the way of swords, 
And earth is weary of hostile hordes. 
Comrades, read out His words again: 
They are the only hope for men! 
Love and not hate must come to birth: 
Christ and not Cain must rule the earth." 
-Edwin Markham, in the People's Home Jour 
not. 



What Did You See Out There, My Lad? 
What did you see out there, my lad, 
That has set that look in your eyes? 
You went out a boy, you have come back a man, 
With strange new depths underneath your tan; 
What was it you saw out there, my lad, 
That set such deeps in your eyes? 

"Strange things, — and sad, — and wonderful, — 

Things that I scarce can tell, — 
I have been in the sweep of the Reaper's scythe,— 

With God, — and Christ, — and hell. 

"I have seen Christ doing Christly deeds; 

I have seen the devil at play; 
I have grimped to the sod in the hand of God; 

I have seen the God-less pray. 

"I have seen Death blast out suddenly 

From a clear blue summer sky; 
I have slain like Cain with a blazing brain, 

I have heard the wounded cry. 

"I have lain alone among the dead, 

With no hope but to die; 
I have seen them killing the wounded ones, 

I have seen them crucify. 

"I have seen the Devil in petticoats 

Wiling the souls of men; 
I have seen great sinners do great deeds, 

And turn to their sins again. 

"T have sped through hells of fiery hail, 

With fell red-fury shod; 
I have heard the whisper of a voice, 

I have looked in the face of God." 

You've a right to your deep, high look, my lad, 

You have met God in the ways; 

And no man looks into His face 

But he feels it all his days. 

You've a right to your deep, high look, my lad, 

And we thank Him for His grace. 

— From "The Vision Splendid," by John Oxen- 
ham. Published by the George H. Dor an 
Company. 



WingB. 
Up from the earth he speeds on rushing wings, 

Conquering regions of uncharted air; 
Nor as a timid Da?dalus he springs 

From height to dizzy height to do and dare; 

To seek the braggart foemah in his cloudy lair I 

As bold, as brave, and buoyant he of heart; 

His spirit light as evening's gauzy cloud. 
He strides the wind, and fearless cleaves apart 

The banking mists that Hell would make his 
shroud, 

For lo! the preying falcon stops, exulting, loud! 

He hears the stinging niss of deadly hail, 
And devil-hammer of down-leveled gun: 

Nor at the test does his high spirit quail, 

Nor thought possess him that his race is run: 
Great heart that sudden finds the foemen ten to 
onel 

Bloody and shattered drops the skillful hand, 
And effort is an effort now, at last: 

His weapon rests inert as the fell band 
Spit fire and fury, closing on him fast, 
And he, so oft a victor, knows his day is passed! 

Then dives one, firing, by him like a flash, 
His quickened senses urge the swift pursuit, 

And down with sudden meteoric dash. 

He strikes the striker; and as one they shoot 
Whirling, entwined, to earth by what a fearful 
route! 

But death came quick to cut the bond in twain. 
Still lies his body on the blazing pyre. 

Dear lad, that flew for neither praise nor gain! 
Lo ! The freed spirit, purged of ill desire, 
Has soared to God on wings that pass unhurt 
through fire! — London Spectator. 




This Company Offers a Wide 
Range of Helpfulness 

In practically every business relationship 
this Company is qualified to act as agent - 
for both the living and the dead. The 
amount involved may be as small as a single 
bond, or it may be as large as a million 
dollars. 

Some of the services which this Company 
gives to individuals are the following: 

Executor under will. 

Administrator, 

Trustee under will. 

Trustee under voluntary agreement, 

Guardian of property of minor or in- 
competent. 

Custodian of securities. 

Agent for the care of real estate. 

Mercantile Trust Company 
of San Francisco 

464 CALIFORNIA STREET 



French American Bank of Savings 

OF SAN FRANCISCO 

lOS SUTTER STREET 

Commercial - Checking • Savings 

Resources over $ 1 0,000,000 

A general banking business 

transacted 
Commercial and Personal 

Checking Accounts 

(large and small) 

Solicited 

Savings accounts re- 
ceive interest at the 
rate of 4 per cent, per 
annum. 

SAFE DEPOSIT BOXES 
$2.50 

OFFICERS : 
A Leg a llet.. President 
Leon Bocqieraz and 
J. M. DrjPAS Vice- 
Presidents 
A. BouaQCET. Secretary 
W. F. Duffy. . .Cashier 





The Anglo and London Paris National Bank 

No. 1 SANSOME STREET 

SAN FRANCISCO. CAL. 



Capital $ 4.00^.000.00 

Surplus and Undivided Pro6ts 2.310.7r,2.:;:: 

Deposits fcl. 27-1. 146. 22 



Issues Letters of Credit and Travelers' Checks 
available in all parts of the world. Buys and 
Sells Foreign Exchange. Finances Exports and 
Import 1 *. 

BOND DEPARTMENT 

Members of the San Francisco Stock 
and Bond Exchange. 



SAFE DEPOSIT VAULTS 



Country Parson — Have you a yeast cake, 
Jennie ? Deacon Jones has sent me a denii- \ 
John of unfermented grapejuice. — Toum 
Tvpirs. - 



The German Savings and Loan Society 

'The German Bank) 

Savings Incorporated 1868 Commercial 

526 California St., San Francisco, Cal. 

Member of the Associated Savings Banki »l San Francises 

Mission Branch, S. E. Corner Mission and 21st Street* 
Richmond District Branch, S. W. Cor Clemen! and 7th Ave. 
Haight Street Branch, S. W. Cor. Haight and Belvedere 

December Slst, 1917 

Assets $fi 3. 31 4 ,$48.0-1 

Deposits 60.079. 1 97.54 

Reserve and Contingent Funds 2,2 

Employees' Pension Fund 

Number of Depositors 

For the six mouths ending Decei 
dividend to depositors of 4 per cen 
was declared. Open Saturday 



24 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 12, 1918. 



BOOK DEPARTMENT 

A Novel of the Revolution 

WHAT NEVER HAPPENED 

By "Ropshin" which is the 
pen name of Boris Savin- 
kov, Minister of -War in 
Kerensky's Cabinet. 

Translated from the Russian 
by Thomas Seltzer 

$1.60 net 



THE LATEST BOOKS. 

A New Life of Audubon. 

The younger generation in America knows 
Audubon but as a name, scarcely realizing 
how great a part he played, not only in the 
actual work of natural history in this coun- 
try, but to what an extent this gifted man 
was responsible for the whole development of 
tbat love of nature and of nature study that 
has made such fine progress among us in 
recent years, and which is one of the most 
wholesome sides of our activities. This neg- 
lect of Audubon the man, however, is partly 
due to the fact that there has not been in 
existence an adequate nor reliable biography 
to which to turn for information. 

Dr. Francis Hobart Herrick, professor of 
biology in Western Reserve University, has 
now made good this lack by publishing a life 
of Audubon in two sumptuous volumes that 
may be considered as definitive. He ex- 
presses as his reason for doing so the dis- 
covery of interesting and hitherto unknown 
data concerning Audubon's early life and 
antecedents, but while this is a valuable fea- 
ture of his book, no other excuse was needed 
than that of the fact that other attempts at 
a biography of Audubon were utterly inade- 
quate and the field' was open. 

Of especial interest is Professor Herrick's 
descriptions of Audubon's methods, and the 
gradual development of his art in the making 
of his plates of birds. We can see that while 
his versatile talents included gifts that might 
have made him a great painter, his love for 
ornithology turned all his genius into this 
congenial channel and determined the line in 
which he was to make the achievements on 
which his lasting fame was to rest. 

Audubon's was an adventurous life, full of 
romance. He was continually making his way 
into the wild places of the country in quest 
of new species, and his wanderings through 
forests and swamps, over mountain and plain, 
make a story that reads like a novel. Pro- 
fessor Herrick's contribution will be welcomed 
by all who love birds and by all who are 
attracted by the life in the open. 

Audubok the Naturalist. By Francis Hobart 
Herrick. Two volumes. New York: D. Appleton 
& Co.; $7.50 the set 



Marketing and Housework Manual. 

It would be difficult to crowd -more useful 
and practical advice about household man- 
agement and marketing for the home into a 
single volume of moderate size than Miss 
Donham has done. Everything possible is 
charted and arranged for easy reference. No 
time is wasted on long-winded discussions. 
Short snappy sentences tell the reader how to 
do things and where to put things. It is 
hard to select anything among the excellent 
chapters for special commendation, but Miss 
Donham's sage advice on the kitchen and 
kitchen pantry is worthy of study by every 
woman who, when she goes to register, puts 
her occupation down as that of housewife. 

Marketing and Housework Manual. By S. 
Agnes Donham, instructor in household manage- 
ment. Garland School of Home-Making. Boston: 
Little, Brown & Co.; $1.50 net 



The Diary of a Nation. 
It is not always an edifying spectacle when 
the humorist takes himself seriously, and we 
have sometimes been bored when Life got ob- 
sessions. But Life on the great war is vigor- 
ous and refreshing and the series of selec- 
tions from the comments of Mr. E. S. Martin 
make a keen and incisive record of the 
formation of American opinion from the days 
when we were officially instructed to be neu- 
tral in bought and action down to the hour 
of the great decision. These comments are 
well WTirth preserving and re-reading. Here 
> "".re gem that is particularly apropos just 
view of the Kaiser's Christmas bid for 



vrmany wants peace, and says so. and her 
E it is so obvious that we all believe 



her. But how can she get peace ? Gorged 
with the looms of Lille, the machines of 
Belgium and northern France, the loot of 
chateaux, the poor spoil of French cottages — 
gorged with plunder, drenched with blood, 
blood, blood — blood of Belgians, blood of 
Frenchmen, blood of British, of Russians by 
the million, of Poles, Serbs, Italians, and even 
Americans ; blood of women and children an 
unnumbered throng — how can the dripping 
Teuton, lately so fierce, find peace ? 

He can' have it at a price, for, of course, 
all Europe wants it pitifully, but he can not 
now get much of a bargain, and terms are 
not growing any easier before Verdun. If the 
war had had an aim with definite bounds to 
it. if it had not been sullied with such ter- 
rible brutalities, and had not bred such fes- 
tering hatreds, peace would have been more 
practicable now. But it was a war for world- 
power or downfall, and such a war it is very 
hard to call off till one side or the other is 
beaten. 

The Diary of a Nation: The War and How 
We Got Into It. By E. S. Martin. New York: 
Doubleday, Page & Co.; $1.50 net 



The Angel in the Sun. 
When Edith Daley wrote "The Wind Be- 
fore the Dawn" she took at once a high rank 
among American poets, and we are glad to 
find this fine production included in the little 
volume of Mrs. Daley's poems that has just 
come to hand. It contains other poems nearly 
as good, and among them "The Mother of 
the Nations." Mrs. Daley has done well to 
make her book a short one. It shows selec- 
tion and excision, and its result is a uniform 
excellence. 

The Angel in the Sun. By Edith Daley. San 
Jose: PaciSc Short Story Club. 



Others. 

The first issue of this anthology of the new 
verse appeared in 1916, and Mr. Kreymborg 
now gives us a second volume containing the 
work of fewer poets and with a fuller rep- 
resentation of each. Eighteen poets are 
quoted in this little volume of 120 pages, and 
Mr. Kreymborg is to be congratulated on a 
wise selection as well as on his avoidance of 
the bizarre and the eccentric. He gives us the 
new verse at its best. 

Others. Edited bv Alfred Kreymborg. New 
York: Alfred A. Knopf; $1.25. 



Gossip of Books and Authors. 
In "Mark Twain's Letters," arranged by 
Albert Bigelow Paine, will be found Twain's 
answer to a little French girl's question about 
which of his own books he liked best "My 
favorite. It is 'Joan of Arc' My next is 
'Huckleberry Finn,' but the family next is 
'The Prince and the Pauper.' (Yes, you are 
right — I am a moralist in disguise ; it gets me 
into heaps of trouble when I go thrashing 
around in political questions. ) " Just this 
season "the family's next" — "The Prince and 
the Pauper" — has been brought out by the 
Harpers in a special holiday dress with 
colored illustrations. 

A week or two ago the newspapers reported 
a counter revolution in Southern Russia 
which was being led by Iliodor, abbot of 
Tsaritzin and former friend and -accuser of 
Rasputin, who has been living in this coun- 
try. According to the report Iliodor's revo- 
lution was carrying all before it. This is a 
striking instance of the unreliability* of the 
Russian news at present In point of fact 
Iliodor has not left this country at all. 
Every morning, during the very days of his 
reported activities in Russia, he was appear- 
ing at the offices of the Century Company, 



where he has been spending much of his time 
of late dictating his life and confessions. The 
book will appear within a few weeks. 

Louis Raemaekers, the famous Dutch car- 
toonist now in this country, whom the London 
Times has called "the only great genius 
brought out by the war," was unheard of be- 
fore the war began. On August 1, 1914, he 
was living quietly with his family, con- 
tentedly painting the tulip fields, waterways, 
cattle, and windmills of his native Holland. 
Four days later he drew the first cartoon, 
"Christendom After Twenty- Centuries," of a 
series that was to reveal him as a champion 
of civilization and make his name a house- 
hold word in every country. 

In "Rodin, the Man and His Art," Judith 
Cladel describes how Rodin obtained the 
beautiful Hotel Biron in Paris, where he 
made his home of late years and which now, 
as the Musee Rodin, has passed into the pos- 
session of the state. "The house was to be 
torn down," Miss Cladel says, "and sold as 
junk; but Rodin was on guard. Ever since he 
had learned that this masterpiece was con- 
demned his heart bled, and for the first and 
only time in the course of his long experience 
an outside interest took him from his work. 
He wrote letters, took legal steps, called to 
his assistance artists, people of culture, and 
men in politics. M. Clemenceau, then presi- 
dent of the cabinet ; M. Briand, who suc- 
ceeded him • M. Gabriel Hanotaux, one of his 
great friends ; M. Dujardin Beaumatz, under 
secretary of state of fine arts, all listened to 



his indefatigable pleading. Finally his plea 
was heard, and the Hotel Biron was classi- 
fied as a historical monument, henceforth in- 
violate." 



New Books Received. 
The Cabin. By V. Blasco Ibafiez. New York: 
Alfred A. Knopf; $1.50. 

Translated from the Spanish. 

We of Italy. By Mrs. K. R. Steege. New 
York: E. P. Dutton & Co. 

Letters of Italian soldiers to their families and 
friends. 

A Theology for the Social Gospel. By Wal- 
ter Rauschenbusch. New York: The Macmillan 
Company; $1.50. 

An interpretation of old dogmas. 

The Land Where thf Sunsets Go. By Or- 
ville H. Leonard. Boston : Sherman, French & 
Co.; $1.35. 

Sketches of the American desert. 

Out of Nature's Creed. By Thomas Nunan. 
San Francisco : A. M. Robertson. 
A poem. 

Somewhere Beyond. Compiled by Mary Car- 
mel Haley. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.;" $1.25. 
A year book of Francis Thompson. 

Effective Public Speaking. By Joseph A. 
Mosher, Ph. D. New York: The Macmillan Com- 
pany; $1.50. 

The essentials of extempore speaking and of 
gesture. 

Memories of Old Salem. By Mary Harrod 
Northend. New York: Moffat, Yard & Co. 

Drawn from the letters of a great-grandmother. 

Sir Charles W. Macaka, Bart. By W. Has- 
lam Mills. Manchester: Sherratt & Hughes; 6s. 
A study of modern Lancashire. 

A Book of Prayer for Use in the Churches 
of Jesus Christ. Compiled by a Presbyter. Bos- 
ton: Sherman, French & Co.; $1.25. 

Prayers. 

National Strength and International Duty. 
By Theodore Roosevelt Princeton: Princeton 
University Press; $1. 

The present actual position and condition of the 
United States. 

Poems. By Carroll Aikins. Boston: Sherman, 
French & Co.; 75 cents. 
A volume of verse. 

Baldness. Bv Richard W. Muller, M. D. New 
York: E. P. Dutton & Co.; $2. 

Its causes, treatment, and prevention. 

Green Fruit. By John Peale Bishop. Boston: 
Sherman, French & Co.; 80 cents. 
A volume of verse. 

The Hill Trails. By Arthur Wallace Peach. 
Boston: Sherman, French & Co.; $1. 
A volume of verse. 



All Books that are reviewed In the 
Argonaut can be obtained at 

Robertson's 

222 STOCKTON ST. 

Union Square San Francisco 



THE HOLMES BOOK CO. 

can supply any book published. Call and in- 
spect our wonderful stock of thousands of vol- 
umes of every description. Special attention 
given " wants." Send us your list. 

Entire libraries purchased 
Cash paid for books of all kinds 

152 KEARNY ST. TWO STORES 70 THIRD ST. 

SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 



THE 

WRITERS BUREAU 

57 Post St., San Francisco 

PLACES MANUSCRIPTS FOR PUBLICATION 



Songs of the Heart and Soul. By Joseph 
Roland Piatt. Boston : Sherman, French & Co. ; 
$1.25. 

A volume of verse. 

The Fall of the Romanoffs. By the author 
of "Russian Court Memoirs." New York: E. P. 
Dutton & Co.; $5. 

How the ex-empress and Rasputine caused the 
Russian revolution. 

The Foundling Prince. By Julia Collier Har- 
ris and Rea Ipcar. Boston: Houghton Mifflin 
Company; $4. 

Tales, translated and adapted from the Rou- 
manian of Petre Ispirescu. 

A Voice from the Silence. By Anna B. Ben- 
sel. Boston: Sherman, French & Co.; $1. 
A volume of verse. 

Higher Living. By Smith Baker, M. D. Bos- 
ton: Sherman, French & Co.; $1.75. 
How to live sensibly and happily. 

Simon Son of Man. By John I. Riegel and 
John H. Jordan. Boston: Sherman, French & Co.; 
$1.50. 

A new interpretation of the story of Jesus. 



The Blue Cross, primarily organized for the 
care of sick and wounded horses, at the request 
of the French minister of war, has widened its 
scope and will hereafter undertake the humane 
duty of looking after war dogs that are 
wounded or become ill in battle on the western 
front. 



The Leading Fire Insurance Company of America' 9 



AETNA 

INSURANCE COMPANY 

OF HARTFORD, CONN. 



Fire, Marine, Automobile, Tourist, 
Baggage Insurance 



CASH CAPITAL $ 5,000,000 

ASSETS 26,706,547 

SURPLUS TO POLICYHOLDERS.... 13,503,325 

This Company has no affiliation with any other 
corporation bearing the name Aetna. 



PACIFIC BRANCH, 301 California St., San Francisco 

W. H. BREEDING 

GENERAL AGENT 



In the San Francisco conflagration of 1906 the Aetna 
was one of five companies which paid its losses in full 
without discount — "dollar for dollar." 



January 12, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



25 



The Flamingo's Nest 

It's a New Novel with a Honolulu Setting 

This story does with words what " The Bird of 
Paradise " does with colored lights and stage ef- 
fects. All the charm, scenery, romance — the 
whole' gorgeous panorama of life in a tropical 
island are set forth in this novel of big business 
and adventure. The affairs of a ^u gar- planta- 
tion have been mismanaged, and a representa- 
tive of the minority stockholders arrives in 
Honolulu, with a plan to set matters right. 
Through a whirl of dramatic situations he pur- 
sues his plan, coming face to face with a variety 
of interesting types produced by the conditions 
of island life — the army officer, the plantation 
manager, the promoter, the banker, and last, but 
not least, the President of the X Sugar Company. 
And the "eternal feminine" is there, too. when 
"a tall girl, all in white, with a light blue rib- 
bon around her blond hair, crossed the room." 
The story swings along from plot lo counter- 
plot, through thrilling situations and visions of 
gorgeous scenery, to reach an unexpected de- 
nouement. 

369 pages. $1.35. 

Sent postpaid on receipt of price 

R- SPRAGUE, 2112 Durant Ave, Berkeley, CaJ. 



THE LATEST BOOKS. 



The Book of Daniel. 
This book by the William H. Green pro- 
fessor of Semitic languages and Old Testa- 
ment criticism of Princeton Theological Semi- 
nary is concerned especially with the objec- 
tions made to historical statements in the 
Book of Daniel, and treats incidentally of the 
chronological, geographical, and philosophical 
questions. The author confronts every objec- 
tion with documentary evidence designed to 
show that the assumptions underlying the ob- 
jection arecontrary to fact. When no direct 
evidence is procurable either in favor or 
against an obj ection the author shows by 
analogy, or the production of similar in- 
stances, that the events or statements re- 
corded in Daniel are possible, and that the 
objections to these events, or statements, can 
not be proved by mere assertion unsupported 
by testimony. 

Studies in the Book of Daniel. By Robert 
Dick Wilson, Ph. D., D. D. New York: G. P. 
Putnam's Sons; $3.50. 



Rhodes' History of the Civil War. 

We owe much to James Ford Rhodes, the 
dean of American historians. His "History of 
the United States from the Compromise of 
1850 to' the Final Restoration of Home Rule 
in the South in 1877" is not only the foremost 
contribution to the history of our country, but 
is one of the most fascinating of books. Of 
it Thomas Bailey Aldrich said: "I was about 
to say that his history is as absorbing as a 
play ; but I would like to see a play that is 
one-half so absorbing." 

The "History of the United States" ap- 
peared in seven volumes and the third, fourth, 
and fifth dealt with the period from 1860 to 
1866. The authoritative character of this 
treatment of the Civil War period, as well as 
its charm and scholarship, brought many re- 
quests for a history of the Civil War as a 
separate work in one volume. It is in re- 
sponse to this demand that the present volume 
has been prepared. It is only fair to say, 
however, that it is not simply an abridgment 
of the three volumes mentioned, but is made 
as the result of three years of arduous toil 
in which Dr. Rhodes was able to make use of 
much material that has come to light since his 
earlier work was published. It is a work dis- 
tinguished by judicial fairness and accurate 
scholarship and in it are synthetized in due 



MISS KELLEY 

announces the formation of 

War Service Business Classes 

Applications will be received up to 
January 30, 1918 

180! CALIFORNIA STREET 

Telephone Prospect 4697 : San Francisco, Cal. 



THE LYCEUM, accredited. 1250 California- 
Do you wish to prepare for the university or 
any college. Annapolis, West Point, teachers' 
exams., civil service, etc.? Then attend this 
school, which has a record unequaled by any 
other school; we teach all subjects of junior col- 
lege; we prepare you in ) year or less; excellent 
instruction; lowest tuition; 24th year; day or 
evening classes. L. H. GRAU, Ph. D., principal, 
formerly of Stanford University. 



SANTA BARBARA GIRLS' SCHOOL 

Resident and Day Pupils. Sleeping-Porches 
and Open-Air School Rooms. Riding, Swim- 
ming, etc., the year round. Basis of work, clear 
thinking. For catalogue and information , address 

Marion L. Chamberlain, A. M., Principal 

1624 Garden St., Santa Barbara, Cal. 



Singing - Piano - Coaching 

TWICE WEEKLY 
$5.00 PER MONTH 

Phone Franklin. 858 7 



perspective the political and military aspects of 
that momentous period. 

History of the Civil Wak, 1861-1S65. By 
James Ford Rhodes. New York: The Macmillan 
Company; $2.50. 



A Radical Among the Philistines. 
"George Jean Nathan Presents" is the title 
of a book treating of "what is called the 
American theatre," Mr. Nathan seeming to 
have his doubts as to whether the institution 
is not something in the nature of a circus. 
The author is a natural rebel, a hater of 
sham, and a hearty detester of the rigidified 
conventions which kill naturalism in aru. He 
is a man without illusions, and when he takes 
one side in an argument will handsomely 
advance many pertinent points in logic for 
the other side, just to show what a crazy 
world this is, and how difficult it is for a 
critic to be constructive. Although Mr. 
Nathan is as the poles asunder from the taste 
of the average audience he understands its 
psychology and writes about it both discern- 
ingly and amusingly. He is, perhaps, what 
the public would consider an "anarch in art," 
which means that he is as sane and well- 
balanced in his dramatic judgment as the 
public taste appears to be artificial and crusted 
in convention. The book is witty as well as 
wise and makes good reading. 

George Jean Nathan Presents. New York: 
Alfred A. Knopf. 

Canoe Exploration in Northern Canada. 

"On the Headwaters of Peace River" is a 
spirited narrative of an adventurous thousand- 
mile canoe trip through a little-known sec- 
tion of the Canadian Rockies. The author, 
Mr. - Paul Leland Hawortli, did not under- 
take the journey as a voyage of discovery 
or for scientific purposes, but as a trip for 
hunting and adventure, and of both he got 
his fill. The excellent pictures which he took 
along the way and which are reproduced in 
large numbers in his book are a valuable 
record of exploration and add greatly to the 
interest of his account. His volume is largely 
personal in character and recounts the author's 
day-by-day experiences in camping and hunt- 
ing, and it will appeal to every one who has 
lived the life in the open and knows the 
delights of forest and stream. 

On the Headwaters of Peace River. By Paul 
Leland Ha worth. New York; Charles Scribner's 
Sons; $4 net. 



The Technique of Trench Fighting. 
Captain F. Hawes Elliott, who had some 
thirty months' experience as instructor in a 
Canadian division at the front, was detailed 
to instruct American officers in the methods 
of trench warfare, and in this work achieved 
a success that led to a general demand that 
he publish his lectures for wider use. He 
has done so in a small pocket volume, elabo- 
rately illustrated with cuts and plans. It goes 
without saying that the information is detailed 
and up to date. Its value as an instruction 
book for men in the service is obvious, and it 
also possesses interest for the layman who 
desires to read accounts of battles and cam- 
paigns with understanding. 

Trench Fighting. By Captain F. Hawes El- 
liott. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company; 
$1.50 net. 



Furniture. 
Frances Clary Morse's volume is a complete 
presentation of the best old fashions in furni- 
ture. It was first published in 1902 and has 
been in constant demand for fifteen years. 
It is now issued in a new edition with over 
120 new illustrations, and a new chapter on 
mantels, doorways, and stairs. There is also 
added to the text a glossary of terms em- 
ployed by cabinet-makers. 

Furniture of the Olden Time. By Frances 
Clary Morse. New York: The Macmillan Com- 
pany; $6. 



Briefer Reviews. 
"Love Stories of the Bible," by Billy Sun- 
day (G. P. Putnam's Sons; $1.50), will doubt- 
less find its audience. Vulgarity always does. 

"If I Could Fly," by Rose Strong Hubbell, 
is a volume of stories in free verse for chil- 
dren with unusually good illustrations in color 
by Harold Gaze. 

"Sheridan's Twins," by Sidford F. Hamp 
(G. P. Putnam's Sons; $1.25), is a frontier 
story for boys and may be commended for its 
vigor and interest. 

Duffield & Co. have published a volume of 
"More Fairy Tale Plays," by Marguerite 
Merrington ($1.50). The plays included are 
"Puss in Boots," "The Three Bears," "Hearts 
of Gold," and "Hansel and Gretel." 

The publishers of "With the Colors," by 
Everard Jack Appleton (Stewart & Kidd Com- 
pany), ask if we will tell our readers, con- 
fidentially, just what we think of it. Will- 
ingly. We think it is pretty poor stuff. 

"Heroes of Today," by Mary R. Parkman 
(Century Company; $1.35), contains short 
biographies of John Burroughs, John Muir, 
Wilfred Grenfell, Robert F. Scott, Edward 
Trudeau, Bishop Rowe, Jacob A ' R** 8 - Rupert 



Brooke, Herbert C. Hoover, Samuel Pierpont 
Langley, and Colonel Goethals. The only 
criticism that can be passed is that some of 
these people are not heroes unless that fine 
word is to be applied to mere distinction. 

A book on the drink problem from the re- 
strictive point of view by a man who is not 
a teetotaler nor connected with any tem- 



perance organization is something of a nov- 
elty. "Drink and the War," by Marr Murray 
I E. P. Dutton & Co.; 50 cents net), is writ- 
ten from the patriotic point of view. It is a 
war book, an inquiry into the extent to which 
alcohol can prevent or delay the winning of 
the war. The author is not out to prove any- 
thing, but simply to place the facts before the 
country. 



STATEMENT 

of the Condition and Value of the Assets and Liabilities 

OF 

THE HIBERNIA SAVINGS AND LOAN SOCIETY 

HIBERNIA BANK 
DATED DECEMBER 31, 1917 



ASSETS 

1— BONDS OF THE UNITED STATES ($8,418,999.00), of 
the State of California and the Cities and Counties thereof 
($10,840,150.00), of the State of New York ($2,149,000.00), 
of the City of New York ($1,300,000.00), of the State of 
Massachusetts ($1,097,000.00), of the City of Chicago 
($650,000.00), of the City of Cleveland ($100,000.00), of 
the City of Albany ($200,000.00), of the City of St. Paul 
($100,000.00), of the City of Rochester ($200,000.00), of 
the City of Philadelphia ($350,000.00), the actual value 
of which is ....:. $25,756,355.99 

2— MISCELLANEOUS BONDS, comprising Steam Railway 
Bonds ($2,044,000.00), Street Railway Bonds ($1,314,- 
000.00), and Quasi-Public Corporation Bonds ($2,206,- 
000.00), the actual value of which is 5,271,866.25 

3— CASH IN VAULT and on demand deposit in banks 4,002,481.42 

$35,030,703.66 
4— PROMISSORY NOTES and the debts thereby secured, the 

actual value of which is 32,089,494.02 

Said Promissory Notes are all existing Contracts, owned 
by said Corporation, and the payment thereof is secured 
by First Mortgages on Real Estate within this State, and 
the States of Oregon and Nevada. 

5— PROMISSORY NOTES and the debts thereby secured, the 

actual value of which is 332,160.00 

Said Promissory Notes are all existing Contracts owned 
by said Corporation, and are payable to it at its office, and 
the payment thereof is secured by pledge of Bonds and 
other securities. 

6 — (a) REAL ESTATE situate in the City and County of San 
Francisco ($2,106,955.75), and in the Counties of Santa 
Clara ($72.47), Alameda ($60,897.10), San Mateo ($58,- 
212.51), and Los Angeles ($60,043.46), in this State, the 
actual value of which is 2,286,181.29 

(b) THE LAND AND BUILDING in which said Cor- 
poration keeps its said office, the actual value of which is 972,627.90 

7— ACCRUED INTEREST ON LOANS AND BONDS 254,254.93 

TOTAL ASSETS $70,965,421.80 



LIABILITIES 

1— SAID CORPORATION OWES DEPOSITS amounting to 

and the actual value of which is $67,748,541.18 

NUMBER OF DEPOSITORS 88,149 

AVERAGE DEPOSITS $764.24 

2— ACCRUED INTEREST ON LOANS AND BONDS 254,254.93 

3— RESERVE FUND, ACTUAL VALUE 2,962,625.69 

TOTAL LIABILITIES $70,965,421.80 

THE HIBERNIA SAVINGS AND LOAN SOCIETY, 
By J. S. TOBIN, President. 

THE HIBERNIA SAVINGS AND LOAN SOCIETY, 
By J. O. TOBIN, Assistant Secretary. 



STATE OF CALIFORNIA, 
CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO 

J. S. TOBIN and J. O: TOBIN. being each duly sworn, each for himself, 
says: That said J. S. TOBIN is President and that said J. O. TOBIN is 
Assistant Secretary of THE HIBERNIA SAVINGS AND LOAN SO- 
CIETY, the Corporation above mentioned, and that the foregoing statement is 
true. 

J. S. TOBIN, President. 

J. O. TOBIN, Assistant Secretary. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 2d day of January, 1918. 

CHAS. T. STANLEY. 
Notary Public in and for the City and C mty of 
San Francisco, State of Calif oi 



.26 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 12, 1918. 




'FAIR AND WARMER." 



Well, well, well, whatever is the matter of 
'em. They have actually sent the Avery Hop- 
wood farce with a better cast than before. 
Henry Stockbridge, of course, is just about 
perfect as Billy. To all intents and purposes 
he is Billy, as far as one can seem to be any- 
thing so stable in the lively atmosphere of 
farce. And Grace Benham is a stunner as 
Laura, which is what Laura should be. Billy, 
of course, was sure to fall in love with a 
stunner, just because fate seemed to destine 
him to espouse a domestic, home-loving, little 
; wren. But the author's idea was sound when 
he made Billy so unappreciative of Blann}'. 
They were both too simple and literal to gravi- 
tate together, and it was natural, although to 
admiring male observers deplorable, that Billy 
was unable to appreciate the essenti al de- 
liciousness of innocent Blanny during the 
clumsy efforts of the innocent pair to initiate 
a genuine jag. 

For Lillian Foster is the cutiest cutey that 
ever happened in spite of the truly weird rig 
that she wore. Although perhaps there was 
calculation in that rig, for it may have helped 
to emphasize the big-eyed childishness of the 
"baby doll." And Lillian Foster played into 
the role of Blann3 r all shades and degrees of 
artlessness, literalness, and kittenishness, and 
not a single point went unrewarded. Clever 
little body! she captured her entire audience, 
to the last woman as well as to the last man. 

Grace Benham has beauty, height, a fine 
figure and bearing, and personality. She car- 
ried the "radiant rags" — as O. Henry put it — 
of the opera costume stunningly and left us 
asking for more after she had flashed in and 
out again, all cream satin and silver. I can't 
say, though, that I admire that chicken-tailed 
device on her morning costume of the third 
act Small roles are not neglected in "Fair 
and Warmer." Thomas Springer made an im- 
pression by his brief sketch of the unctuously 
appreciative mover, and Bessie Brown as the 
maid, and Messrs. Hayden and Herbert gayly 
contributed to the air of Broadway frivolity 
which characterizes everything in 'Tair and 
Warmer" — except Billy. 

Poor, dear Billy ! I'm afraid the Billy Bart- 
lets of life are always rather picked on by 
their wives. It is fatal to be too amiable; 
a fault that no one can say that Laura pos- 
sessed, especially when Billy was celebrating 
his next morning's head. For we all shivered 
sympathetically when Billy and his morning- 
after ailment were to be left bedless. 

That head of Billy's ! How genuine an 
article it seemed to be. It almost amounted 
to a temperance lecture when Billy sat up in 
bed, and we felt achingly sympathetic flops in 
the circulation of the top of our own head 
when he groaned, and cooled his burning 
brow on the unsympathetic steel atachments 
of the telephone. If any tyro at celebrating 
with gayly colored fluids and bright lights 
feels inquisitive about the morning after, let 
him go and see Billy in bed the morning fol- 
lowing his and Blanny's adventure into jag- 
dom. For of course there is a bed in "Fair 
and Warmer." There always is in Broadway 
farces, is there not? 

There are numerously presumabry embar- 
rassing allusions of an intimate conjugal na- 
ture in the piece, but clever Avery Hopwood 
knows better than to make his vulgarity 
heavy-footed and insistent. It always has an 
innocently casual air, and in this piece gen- 
erally proceeds from the artless lips of Billy 
or Blanny. And the jag ; how odious it would 
h^Pe been if Laura and her flirtee had been 
the celebrants. But with those two harmless 
innocents it was immensely, spontaneously, 
and unintermitently funny ; a comment, by 
the way, which may be extended to include 
the whole farce. 



ancient glories seem to have all been of Ama- 
zonian mold. And yet one finds one's self 
greatly desiring at times to see that ex- 
quisitely completed art of hers wedded to an 
equally beautiful person. And again, she does 
what she does so beautifully that the im- 
agination surrenders itself to the suggestion 
with swiftest response to the emotion indi- 
cated and with a thrill of delight in the beauty 
underlying its expression. 

Miss Duncan was much happier and more 
spontaneous in mood on her last appearance 
than on her first. And indeed the occasion 
was more truly interesting because it was a 
keen pleasure to see two people who were 
above all artists in their domain inspiring and 
interpreting each the other. It was reallj' a 
rare experience. The occasion was billed as 
a Chopin recital, and Harold Bauer, with his 
fine individuality of touch and style, played as 
lovingly and comprehendingly as if the music 
were of his own composition. He is one of 
those pianists who disregard all idea of 
startling by a display of brilliancy and power. 
Emotion, emotion, and always emotion is his 
dominant thought His music is the kind that 
the intellect deeply approves, but also it al- 
ways steals into the heart and soul. All those 
Chopin studies, preludes, and nocturnes were 
played most delicately, feelingly, and ex- 
quisitely; and like a sympathetic accompany- 
ing instrument the dancer joined her inter- 
pretation to his. Sometimes she seemed to 
be merely floating in a dreamy rapture of 
sympathy to the formless mood of the com- 
poser. Again, we witnessed a whole drama 
of agony; the agony of the bereft with its 
mood of exaltation, as the soul of the mourner 



had its inspiring vision of heavenly hosts re- 
ceiving the soul of the mourned ; and then 
came the sense of loss, of grief, and the 
inevitable resignation. 

These and a number of other delicate sug- 
gestions harmoniously conveyed . left in the 
memory a whole gallery of beautiful impres- 
sions : a girl coaxing a pet dove to come to 
her, and again freeing it and watching with 
childlike delight its flight as it circles above 
her head; a joyous springtime mood expressed 
by a delicate abandon into the whirlings and 
leapings of happy youth ; a patriotic leader, 
with mood stern and high, inspiring eager 
followers to reach the goal ; and the military' 
rhythm, the forward rush, and the wild ardor 
of the response. 

There was a brief dance of coquetry, in 
which 2. Carmenesque being of sultry charm 
provoked and allured, and teased and denied ; 
and most beautiful of all in its lovely tender- 
ness of expression was the Berceuse, in which 
a soft-eyed. Madonna-like woman all draped 
in quiet gray, knelt and brooded with deep, 
yearning love over the slumber of her child. 



THE ORPHEUM. 



There is no doubt that vaudeville, which 
had begun to climb rather high on the scale 
of merit during the last five years or so, has 
tumbled down again. This, no doubt is due 
to the war. Managers presumably dare not 
venture their money during these times of 
war economies on paying for vaudeville tours 
of such high-priced artists as Ethel Barry- 
more, as Margaret Anglin, Arnold Daly, Nazi- 



THE 

DE VALLY CLASSES 

IN OPERATIC AND LYRIC ART 

BLAKE & AMBER, Management 
ANTOINE V. K. DE VALLY, Director 

Studio and Recital Hall 

Eilers Building, 975 Market St. 

San Francisco, Cal. 
Phone Douglas 400 



mova, and Sarah Bernhardt; all of whom we 
have seen at the Orpheum. But it has fallen 
off in other respects. The artistic group 
dance numbers are disappearing. There is a 
more common tone to the so-called playlets, 
which are generally merely skits. There used 
to be extremely clever players heading the 
playlet companies and, in fact, we were per- 
mitted in vaudeville many glimpses of the real 
art of the drama. Now, alas, these heartening 
vistas grow increasingly rare, due no doubt to 
war economies plus war taxes. The public 
pays more — as it should in times like these — 
and" gets less for its money. And yet the Or- 
pheum audiences always seem satisfied ; or at 
least enough of them are to make a power of 
noise in acclaiming their favorites. 

I must say that the Alexander Kids act 
seemed to me something of a come-down for 
our only first-class vaudeville house. So also 



THE 
WAR TIME AIMS OF THE 
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 

A T THE close of the past eventful year, the SAN FRANCISCO CHAMBER OF COM- 

r\ MERCE, reviewing its own activities and contemplating the largest service of which it is 

capable for the Year IQl8 is moved to restate some of its fixed aud fundamental policies. 

The organization is solemnly aware of its obligation to render a Most DEFINITE and UNRESERVED 

Service to our Nation. 



ISADORA DUNCAN AGAIN. 



To see Isadora Duncan posture and dance 

is to revive numerous stray impressions of 

many Grecian stories, myths, or tragedies. 

We have seen the models upon which she 

has based her studies many, man}- times in 

the shape of paintings or reproductions of 

the famo.is reliefs which decorated the ves- 

and entablatures of ancient Greece. 

vnerefore more willingly accept her 

"lassiveness of type, since those 

-::.:riQ-li ve d during- the _epj?cJL.of_Gxeece^s 



Inasmuch as the present war is su- 
premely one of production, calling for 
the maximum of efficiency in industrial 
and commercial life, organizations of 
business and industry of the type of the 
Chamber of Commerce have enormously 
increased significance and responsibility'. 

The first policy of the Chamber is to 
make the organization thoroughly rep- 
resentative so that when it speaks, it 
speaks with the power and backing of 
the vital and responsible commercial in- 
terests of the city. 

It is a matter of congratulation that so 
much progress has been made in this di- 
rection and that San Francisco has a 
real organization with which to express 
its united opinion and to voice its com- 
mon needs. 

The Chamber is committed to get the 
basic facts concerning the community. 
Intelligent activity can not be had with- 
out thorough information. Every de- 
partment of the Chamber is required to 
gather the fullest information upon all 
subjects under consideration. We are 
ambitious to have the best-informed or- 
ganization in the United States as to the 
transportation, shipping, legislative and 
other subjects bearing upon commercial 
and industrial development. 

While the various departments of the 
Chamber are of distinct service to the 
membership, it is the fixed aim of the 
Chamber of Commerce to contribute and 
express, rather than to exploit for imme- 
diate selfish advantage. 

The Chamber seeks to function the 
power and influence of its membership 
toward community development and 
service. 

It is not organized primarily to secure 
direct business advantages for individual 
. memhers,_but to furnish. an organized- op- 



portunity to individuals, firms, and 
groups of business men to build up the 
highest type of commercial and indus- 
trial development for the benefit of ever)' 
man, woman and child in the city. 

The Chamber therefore seeks to deal 
with the dominant problems which face 
the community, problems which are be- 
yond the resources or abilities of any- 
thing less than our city's combined com- 
mercial forces. These problems are con- 
cerned with port administration and ef- 
ficiency; they are concerned with a 
higher type of municipal administration. 
They arise in connection with unsound 
legislation which would remove the law- 
ful protection from the peaceful pursuit 
of business or threaten the legitimate 
conduct of business or, on the other 
hand, the Chamber may undertake to 
guide constructive legislation for the 
freer opportunity of commercial inter- 
course. These problems concern large 
transportation questions, undue discrimi- 
nation of rates and realization of wider 
distributive areas for San Francisco. 
The problem is one of foreign markets 
and especially in this time of greatly dis- 
turbed international relations, deals with 
the intricate detail and adjustment due to 
necessary government regulation. The 
problem is one of properly using the 
giving power of six thousand members 
of the Chamber to influence efficiency 
and legitimacy of the various social and 
charitable organizations of the city, the 
efficiency and service of which so greatly 
affects industrial and commercial pros- 
perity. On the industrial side, the prob- 
lem is one of the strictest investigation 
to the end that a wise and far-sighted 
program may be laid out for manufac- 
turing development. At a time when 
anarchist, I. W. W. and other destruc- 
tive forces threaten the free exercise of 



constitutional rights, the commanding 
problem before the entire community is 
one of the preservation of law and order. 

All of the activities of the Chamber in 
1917 have dealt fearlessly and construc- 
tively with these problems. 

In interpreting the terms commerce 
and industry, it must always be remem- 
bered that these are fundamental human 
questions and that activities which tend 
to stimulate commerce and industry 
widen the opportunity of every individual 
in the community and affect advan- 
tageously both those who work with their 
hands and those who fill executive posts. 
The greater the opportunity for employ- 
ment, the greater the opportunity for the 
enjoyment of adequate wages and there- 
fore the greater degree of comfort in 
life. 

The Chamber of Commerce realizes 
that it represents a world city, located at 
the very cross-roads of international 
commerce. It must be concerned with 
every national movement affecting the 
Pacific Coast. It does not dare treat any 
subject from a strictly local viewpoint. 
It must meet all these problems with the 
one dominating idea that the commercial 
community of San Francisco with its re- 
markably advantageous position must 
contribute everything to the national in- 
dustrial development in order to win the 
war. 

The policy of the Chamber is there- 
fore to stimulate and ei courage the 
greatest activity* and efficiency in com- 
merce and industry and to bring home 
to each individual member the strength 
and necessity of his personal contribu- 
tion to this great end. 

With these "WAR TIME AIMS," the 
San Francisco Chamber of Commerce 
looks forward to the coming year of 
service. 



January 12, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



27 



did the Avon Comedy Four in their indi- 
gestible Hungarian Rhapsody, or at least the 
rough-and-tumble part of their performance 
did, although, unlike Mclntyre and Heath, 
they deserve approval for having fake in- 
stead of real food tossing around the stage; 
and there is a crude swing and elan to their 
lusty quartetting which exhilarates their au- 
diences. 

As for the Alexander Kids, I felt a sense 
of repugnance at seeing this child imitation 
of adolescent frivolity. It was actually pa- 
thetic to remark how completely childishness 
had been eliminated from the wizened little 
mugs of the ''clever, cute, cunning, captivating" 
youngsters who have been so unpleasantly 
trained to ape the stage banalities of their 
seniors. Shrewdness and calculation are pre- 
cociously developed in their young souls, and 
are easily read 9a their child faces. It is a 
curious commentary on the taste of the 
average vaudevillian that they who love and 
admire and presumably cherish the sponta- 
neity and artlessness of childhood, and who 
would enjoy seeing stage children trained to 
childish roles on the stage hail with such 
rapture the really daunting spectacle of al- 
most tender babes wearing in miniature the 
costumes and going through the vulgar paces 
of our much-denuded beauties of the song- 
and-dance order. 

"The Cherry Tree" has returned and has 
again made good. Harry Green is clever in 
Hebraic delineation, and in making points. 
The piece is a crude mixture of humor and 
attempted sentiment, which sometimes halts 
and slips, as when the blonde twenty-thirty 
says feelingly and gratefully, "I was a poor 
girl when he married me and he took me from 
poverty." 

Mclntyre and Heath have revived "The 
Ham Tree" under another name and with a 
few additional touches. They are as solid as 
ever with the audience during the ham con- 
versation and hold on firmly to appreciative 
attention during an o'er-long act. Evidently 
"nigger minstrelsy" humor of the genuine tra- 
dition is destined to a long and honorable 
career. Vaudeville saved it when as an all- 
evening entertainment it became obsolete. 

Bert Swor is a powerful rival, for his darky 
impersonations are good and his humor un- 
forced. Rather old stuff, though, that travesty 
of a speech, although it always seems to go 
when it is well done. 




Leopold 

ODOWSKY 



COLUMBIA THEATRE 
THIS SUNDAY (Jan. 13) AFT., at 2:30 

Superb Programme — Bf>etho<en. Brahms, Go- 
dowsky, Chopin. Liszt. Mendelssohn, Henselt. etc. 

Tickets $2. ?1 .-50. SI, on sale at Sherman. Clay & 
Co.. Kohler &. Chase, and Th- atre. 
Knabe Piano Used. 

De GoRorza Recitals Temporarily Postponed. 
Dates Will Be Announced in Dae Time. 
Coming- YVETTE GUILBERT. 



O 



RPHFIIM O'FARREL STREET 

ILLUIU Ba.mSlKb.il and PsntD 



Week Beginning This Sunday Afternoon 

Matinee Every Day 
ANOTHER GREAT NEW BILL 

JOSEPH E. HOWARD and a Company of 
40 in "A Musical World Revue"; KEGIXA 
COXNELLI and RUBY CRAVEN in the 
Washington Square Plavers' Success, "Moon- 
down"; HARRY SYLVESTER and MAIDA 
VANCE i n Willard Mack's Satirical Comedy 
with Songs, "Get Out of the Theatre"; 
VIVIAN HOLT, Operatic Soprano, and LIL- 
LIAN ROSEDALE. Pianist Composer, in 
Songs and Stories to Music; KANAZAWA 
BOYS, Equilibrists with a Laugh; BERT 
SWOR, Blackface Comedian; ANNA CHAND- 
LER, "Breaking into Society"; THE AVON 
COMEDY' FOUR. 

Evening prices, 10c, 25c, 50c, 75c. Mati- 
nee prices (except Saturdays, Sundays and 
holidays), 10c, 25c, 50c. Phone — Douglas 70. 



COLUMBIA THEATRE ^tizS? 

^^Geaxy and Mason Sta. Phone Franklin 160 

Third Week Begins Sunday, Jan. 13 

Matinees Wednesday and Saturday 
The Comedy That Will Live Forever 

"TURN 

TO THE 

RIGHT" 

Jam Full of Fun 

A BIG DEMAND FOR SEATS 

This attraction will not play Oakland 



CQRT> 



Leading Theatre 
ELLIS AND MARKET 

Phone Sutter 2460 



2d and Last Week Starts Sun. eve., Jan. 13 

Selwyn & Co. Present 

America's Fastest and Funniest Farce 

"FAIR AND WARMER" 

By Avery Hopwood 
Night prices, 25c to $1.50 
BEST SEATS $1.00 WED & SAT. MATS. 
- Next— Jan. 20, "THE BIRD OF PARA- 
DISE."" 



For a talking songster we have Anna 
Chandler in "Breaking into Society"; rather 
an incongruous idea, one would think, in con- 
junction with a personage so overpowering 
in costume, smile, manner, and material. 
However, the audience fully justified the lady 
for a state of self-confidence that otherwise 
might be apt to strike the cool outsider as 
somewhat overweening. 

The Levolos do some pretty good wire- 
walking, and the Gaudsmidts, a couple of en- 
gaging clowns with their equally engaging 
poodles did a lot of clever tumbling in a 
spontaneous and enjoying sort of way that 
rather tickled the spectators and inclined them 
toward a personal liking for the nimble 
quartet. Josephine Hart Phelps. 



FOYER AND BOX-OFFICE. 



Godowsky Tomorrow (Sunday) Afternoon. 
Not inaptly has Leopold Godowsky been 
called "a pianist for pianists — a miracle 
worker," and the majority of living pianists 
recognize his transcendent art and gladly do 
him homage. Nothing musical is foreign to 
this man, who will give one piano concert at 
the Columbia Theatre tomorrow (Sunday) 
afternoon. His programme is herewith given 
in full: 

I. 

Sonata, op. 110, A flat Beethoven 

Intermezzo, op. 76, No. 3, A flat Brahms 

Rhapsody, op. 119, No. 4, E flat Brahma 

II. 

Minuet, G minor Rameau 

Courante, E minor Lully 

Tambourin, E minor Rameau 

(From Godowsky's "Renaissance.'") 

III. 

Fantasie, op. 49, F minor Chopin 

Waltz, op. 64, No. 3, A flat Chopin 

Berceuse Chopin 

Polonaise, op. 53, A flat Chopin 

IV. 

Ave Maria Henselt 

Etude, op. 36, A fiat (for the left hand alone).. 

Bhimenfeld 

"On Wings of Song" Mendelssohn-Liszt 

Humoresque from "Miniatures," No. 29 

Godowsky 

Polonaise, No. 2, E major Liszt 

Godowsky- tickets can be had at the Colum- 
bia ticket office today. 



The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. 

For the sixth "Pop" concert of the San 
Francisco Symphony Orchestra, announced 
for Sunday afternoon, January 13th, at the 
Cort Theatre, Conductor Alfred Hertz has 
contrived a programme of wider appeal than 
any he has yet offered. 

Emilio Puyans, the able flutist of the or- 
chestra, will be soloist, playing Godard's 
Suite, op. 116, with the orchestra, a compo- 
sition graceful and effective and admirably 
calculated to exhibit Puyans' art at its finest. 

That the concert in its entirety is the most 
popular yet offered is evidenced by contem- 
plation of the programme, which embraces 
many old favorites. Every "Pop" concert fol- 
lower loves Suppe's "Poet and Peasant" over- 
ture and Rossini's overture to "William Tell." 
Tschaikowsky's "Nutcracker Suite" is always 
a favorite. Moszkowski's "Serenade" will be 
given in response to many requests for its 
repetition. Another "Serenade," by Pierne, 
is certain of appeal. Three Slavonic Dances 
by Dvorak, which are new to the baton of 
Alfred Hertz, and "The Star-Spangled Ban- 
ner," now an established feature of all pro- 
grammes, will be the remaining offerings of 
a prodigal feast of light music. 

The eighth regular pair of symphonies is 
announced for Friday afternoon, January 
18th, and Sunday afternoon, January 20th, 
at the Cort. Tschaikowsky's Fourth Sym- 
phony, Debussy's "La Mer," and Chabrier's 
rhapsody, "Espana," will make up a pro- 
gramme of vital interest. * 



"Turn to the Right" at the Columbia. 
Tumultuous applause within the theatre and 
a never-ending line at the box-office tell the 
story of the hit scored by "Turn to the 
Right!" at the Columbia Theatre, where it is 
now in the second week of its run. Matinees 
will be given Wednesday and Saturday this 
week and throughout the engagement, which 
terminates Sunday night, January 27th. The 
company will not play Oakland. 



"Fair and Warmer" at the Cort. 

"Fair and Warmer," the Avery Hopwood 
farce, has not outlived its usefulness in San 
Francisco, as is proven by the throngs that 
have been enjoying it to the fullest during the 
past week, and who no doubt will continue 
to do so during the final week of its stay, 
which begins next Sunday evening, January 
13th. 

Two upright and respectable persons, the 
one a husband far too good for human na- 
ture's daily entertainment, and the other a 
little wife whose experience has been largely 
gotten from the end of her mother's apron- 
strings, to their astonishment find that their 
respective spouses have been deceiving them 
and having more joy out of life than can be 
found at the family hearthstone. 

The put-upon pair decide to retaliate by be- 



ing utterly wicked. But not knowing how, 
they mess things up for themselves and every- 
body else and end by promising inhumanly 
good behavior for the rest of their lives in 
order to keep out of jail and the divorce 
courts. In the cast are Henry Stockbridge, 
Lillian Foster, Jack Hayden, Grace Benham. 
Alexandre J. Herbert. Bessie Brown, Joseph 
A. Bingham, Thomas Springer, and others. 

The engagement will positively end Satur- 
day evening, January 19th, owing to previous 
engagements elsewhere which must be ful- 
filled. 

"The Bird of Paradise" opens January 20th. 



The New Bill at the Orpheum 

The Orpheum bill for next week will not 
only maintain the highest standard of vaude- 
ville, but will be rich in novelty and variety. 

Joseph E. Howard, the well-known com- 
poser, will present "A Musical World Revue" 
in four scenes. It is a summary of various 
of the Howard musical compositions intro- 
duced with proper scenic settings and a com- 
pany of forty players to enact the songs. 

Regina Connelli and Ruby Craven will ap- 
pear in the Washington Square Players' suc- 
cess, "Moondown." Miss Craven is a recruit 
from the legitimate stage, where she is highly 
thought of. 

Harry Sylvester and Maida Vance, clever 
comedians and singers, will appear in a 
satirical comedy with songs entitled "Get Out 
of the Theatre," the author of which is Wil- 
lard Mack. 

Vivian Holt, operatic soprano, and Lillian 
Rosedale, pianist and composer, will be heard 
in songs and stories to music. Miss Holt, 
who was a pupil of Lazar Samaloff, is a lyric 
coloratura, and Edward Markham, the Ameri- 
can poet, described her singing when he ex- 
claimed, "She sings with a lark's tongue." 
Miss Rosedale is a concert pianist and com- 
poser of much ability. She also uses a group 
of stories to music which are her own com- 
position, as also is the song "Within Thine 
Eyes I Gaze," which Miss Holt sings. 

The Kanazawa Boys are a trio of Japanese 
who are Risley artists of extraordinary ability. 
One of them is a natural comedian who 
throughout the performance keeps his au- 
dience in the best of humor. 

Bert Swor, the popular blackface come- 
dian ; Anna Chandler in "Breaking into So- 
ciety-," and the Avon Comedy Four will be 
the remaining acts in a most enjoyable bill. 



The St. Francis Little Theatre. 

Another attractive programme has been 
contrived by Arthur Maitland for the next 
performances of the, St. Francis Little The- 
atre Club, which will be given on Monday 
evening, January 14th, and Wednesday after- 
noon, January 16th, in the Colonial Ballroom 
of the Hotel St. Francis. The performances 
will be identical on these two occasions. 

A timely note will be struck in the presenta- 
tion of "For the Honor of America," by Sada 
Cowan, which is a bid for enlistment and an 
indictment of the slacker. 

"Enter the Hero" is a clever little satire 
on a spinster who suddenly evinces a desire 
for the marital state. It will be played by 
Albert Morrison, who showed to advantage 
in his first appearances with the organization 
last week, and the Misses Helene Sullivan 
and Ruth Hammond. 

The remaining offering will be "A Game of 
Chess," which is to be repeated in response 
to numerous requests. This unique melo- 
drama of a Russian nobleman who pits his 
wits against the strength and arms of a Rus- 
sian serf is generally regarded as the most 
effective little play yet offered. It particu- 
larly affords Arthur Maitland opportunity for 
acting of distinction. 



Critic's Extol Guilbert's Art. 
Admirers of art will be afforded the privi- 
lege of hearing one of the very' greatest artists 
of the age when Mme. Yvette Guilbert returns 
to this city to give three programmes at the 
Scottish Rite Auditorium on Sunday after- 
noon, February 3d, Wednesday night, Feb- 
ruary 6th, and Saturday afternoon, February 
9th. under the management of Selby C. Op- 
penheimer. Each of the programmes will be 
entirely different from the other, and contain 
mostly works in which she has not appeared 
here before. Mail orders for the Guilbert re- 
citals can now be sent to Manager Oppen- 
heimer at Sherman, Clay & Co.'s. 



Minneapolis Orchestra En Route to This City. 
The Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, now 
started on its annual transcontinental tour, 
which will bring it to San Francisco for con- 
certs at the Columbia Theatre on Thursday 
and Friday afternoons, February 7th and Sth. 
and at the Tivoli Opera House for a special 
concert on Sunday morning, February 10th, 
and for two concerts at the Oakland Audi- 
torium Opera House on Saturday afternoon 
and night, February 9th, is unique in that it 
is the only one of the great American orches- 
tras which has grown to artistic maturity- un- 
der the conductor who formed it and still 




32-36 Geary Street 

SAN FRANCISCO 3 



The Restaurant Refined 

Candies and Cakes of Character 

One of San Francisco's Unique 
Places, in which prevails the 
old-fashioned idea of providing 
excellent food and courteous 
service at moderate prices. 

Breakfast, Luncheon, Tea and Dinner 

Manufacturers of "Small Blacks" 



continues under his baton. Emil Oberhoffer 
has- been the conductor of the Minneapolis 
Symphony Orchestra from its inception four- 
teen years ago, and the unprecedented develop- 
ment of this orchestra from its beginning to 
its present position as one of the greatest 
symphonic bodies in the world is due largely 
to his genius, tact, and magnetic personality. 
The entire Minneapolis organization of ninety 
"star" musicians, the same that annually in- 
vades New York and Boston with signal suc- 
cess, is making the Coast trip, and specially 
attractive programmes of unusually interesting 
music will be given in this cry. Selby C. 
Oppenheimer will manage the local concerts 
of this fine orchestra. 



The De Gogorza Concerts Postponed. 
Manager Oppenheimer has just been ad- 
vised that the famous American baritone, 
Emilio de Gogorza, has contracted a severe 
cold in Chicago and will have to postpone his 
visit to San Francisco for the present De 
Gogorza has telegraphed that he does not 
want to return to this city unless his voice is 
at its absolute best, and promises to speedily 
advise Manager Oppenheimer just when he 
will be able to make the journey to California, 
which will probably be some time during the 
latter part of February. 



John E. Kellered is making a comprehen- 
sive tour of the United States in a Shake- 
spearean repertory. He is coming to the Co- 
lumbia Theatre. 

-«•»■ 

According to recent government compilation 
there was a drop of 1S.3 per cent, in daily 
earnings of German women workers between 
March and September, 1914, but by Septem- 
ber, 1916, women's earnings had risen to a 
figure 54.1 per cent above that of March. 
1914. The greatest increase in women's wages 
did not occur during the first winter of the 
war (as was the case with men's), but be- 
tween September, 1915, and March, 1916. the 
rise in this period being 18.3 per cent. 



SYmphoNY 

ORCHESTRA 

Alfred Hertz ----- Conductor. 

6th "POP" CONCERT 

Soloist— EMILIO PUYANS. Flutist 
Cort Theatre 

SUNDAY AFT.. JAN. 13, at 2:30 Sharp 

Programme — Overture, "Poet and Peasant," 
Suppe; "Nutcracker Suite," Tschaikowsky : 
Suite, op. 116, for flute and orchestra, Godard 
(Emilio Puyans) ; Three Slavonic Dances, 
Dvorak; "Serenade," Pierne; "Serenade," 
Moszkowski : overture, "William Tell," Rossini. 

Prices— 25c, 50c, 75c, Si- Tickets at Sher- 
man. Clay & Co.'s except concert day; at Cort 
Theatre on concert day only. 

Next — Jan. 13-20, 8th Pair Symphonies. 



St. Francis Little Theatre Club 

Direction of Mr. Arthur Maitland 

Colonial Ballroom, Hotel St. Francis 

Desires to state that the matinees which are 
given once a week by Mr. Maitland and a 
company of professional players are open to 
the public. Three playlets by the world's best 
authors are given on each programme. 



ADMISSION, ONE DOLLAR 

Evening performances are for ra 
only. Application for membership 
to the committee. Room 875- 
Hotel. 



28 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 12, 1918. 




Ornamental Trees 

We have for sale this season a magnificent stock of 
Ornamental Trees, Climbing Plants, Shrubs, Palms 
and Roses. Fifty-tivo years in business. 

Write for Illustrated Catalog and Price List. 

California Nursery Company 

NILES, CALIFORNIA 



VANITY FAIR. 

Hardened, inured, calloused, and insensi- 
tized as we are to the strictures directed by 
frivolity and malice against this enlightened 
column, we stand none the less appalled by 
the debonair illogic of a letter signed "A 
Sympathetic Sister" that appears on one of 
the less vital pages of this issue. Charging 
the woman of fashion with a studied contempt 
for her own health and comfort in her pur- 
suit of the freakish and variable mode, we 
receive the crushing rejoinder that men are 
equally and similarly guilty, as is evidenced 
by their contempt for the mode in their pur- 
suit of health and comfort- 
Now why should not father "skid about" 
in a robe de nuil "tailored on generous 
lines'' ? Why this gibe at his manner of loco- 
motion ? He ma3 T move somewhat rapidly 
from bed to bathroom, conscious that he is 
not exactly showing at his shining best, but 
we resent the imputation that he "skids." 
Personally we perform this pilgrimage with 
dignity, undiminished by a salutary speed. 
And why should not the robe de nuit be fash- 
ioned on "generous lines" if a certain sar- 
torial amplitude is demanded by the lavish 
hand of nature ? Now if men were to adopt 
the sheath style in their nighties, if they wore 
deco\ T ducks of pink and blue ribbons, if they 
had cause to dread even the penetrative light 
of the early morning — and we know a thing 
or two, young as we are — there would be 
some cause for the taunts of a "Sympathetic 
Sister." Conscious of a decorous if inelegant 
chastity, we repel them. Like Roman sena- 
tors we wrap ourselves in the "generous lines" 
of our nightly attire and proceed in stately 
dignity to our ablutions. Our motto is now, 
and will ever be. Virtue First. 

And suppose we do wear a button at the 
ankle of the pajama ? What of it? Per- 
sonally we were not aware that pajamas thus 
munitioned could be obtained, but henceforth 
we shall use no other. Does a "Sympathetic 
Sister" wear pajamas? Does she? We ask 
to know. Not lightly nor immodestly do we 
pose this question. We suspect that she does 
not. Does she know how difficult it is to 
insinuate herself between the cold sheets of 
the bed without causing what may be deli- 
cately described as an upward and exposive 
movement of the lower pajama extremities, 



producing a cold and clammy contact with the 
unwarmed linen? This difficulty would be ob- 
viated by a button, an inornate and austere 
button, not a bunch of baby ribbon nor a 
jeweled stud, but just a button. Are we to 
be exposed to ridicule for thus adopting a 
device that leaves "no chance for chills" ? 
Is this a proper cause for the jeers of the 
frivolous? Is this comparable with the de- 
fiance of comfort, hygiene, and virtue that 
distinguish the attire of so many women of 
fashion ? 

And then there is the pajunion. We never 
heard of it before, but its obvious archi- 
tecture is so intelligent that we shall adopt 
it forthwith. A pajunion we take to be a 
combination of the upper and lower garments 
in which it has been our habit separately to 
attire ourselves before seeking repose. And 
here, too, we may welcome a great and benefi- 
cent discovery, and one calculated to circum- 
vent the present tendency of the individual 
garments to separate themselves in the silent 
watches of the night, to part company at the 
equator, so to speak, one descending and the 
other ascending, and so producing what may 
be called a luminous interval, invisible, it is 
true, to all save our Maker, but disconcerting 
to a mind verging upon prudery- 
Other counts in the indictment are simi- 
larly irrelevant. Indeed they may be re- 
garded as certificates to a male virtue that 
actually needs no certificate. Men, we are 
told, object to be chafed, pinched, bound, 
and gripped. This must necessarily seem an 
insoluble and an exasperating mystery to the 
feminine mind that tolerates and even wel- 
comes the tortures of the damned in its pur- 
suit of an ever elusive mode. But by what 
strange perversion of intelligence is this con- 
sidered as a sufficient reply to a charge that 
women care for none of these things, neither 
for health nor comfort, at the biddings of 
fashion. 

Men's clothing, it is true, leaves much to 
be desired. Nothing is perfect in this im- 
perfect world. But in men we find a con- 
stant aspiration toward the good, the beauti- 
ful, and the true even in undies, a ceaseless 
effort toward perfection, a manful resistance 
to discomfort, that is wholly lacking in the 
opposite sex. Did any one ever hear of a 
woman who objected to be chafed, pinched, 
bound, and gripped ? Would it be possible to 



STATEMENT OF THE CONDITION OF THE 

BANK OF ITALY 

SAVINGS COMMERCIAL TRUST 

HEAD OFFICE. SAN FRANCISCO 

December 31, 1917 
RESOURCES 

First Mortgage Loans on Real Estate $26,924,751.03 

Other Loans (Collateral and Personal) 20,079,438.07 

Banking Premises, Furniture, Fixtures and Safe Deposit Vaults (Head Office 

and Branches) 2,341,000.00 

Other Real Estate 160,634.43 

Customers' Liability Under Letters of Credit 1,215,590.08 

Other Resources 388,787.97 

United States, State, Municipal and Other Bonds $13,308,176.52* ' 

CASH ; 13,054,774.69— 26,362,951.21 

™ a l $77,473,152.79 

LIABILITIES 

•Capital Paid Up $ 3,000,000.00 

Surplus $811,600.00 

Undivided Profits 288,400.00 — 1,100,000.00 

Dividends Unpaid \\2 834 00 

Letters of Credit ; ............'.'...'....'...'.. l,2li'59o'oS 

DEPOSITS 72,044.728.71 

Total $77,473,152.79 

A. P. GIANHINI and A. PEDRINI, being each separately dulv sworn each for himself, 
says that said A. P. Giannini is President and that said A. Pedrini is Cashier of the Bank of 
Italy, the Corporation above mentioned, and that every statement contained therein is true of 
his own knowledge and belief. A. P GI \NNINI 

A. PEDRINL 
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 31st day of December, 1917 
THOMAS S. BURXES, 'Notary Public. 
• On June 15, 1918, Capital will be increased to $5,000,000.00, fully paid. 

THE STORY OF OUR GROWTH 

As Shown by a Comparative Statement of Our Resources: 

December 31, 1904 S285436 97 

December 31, 1906 ^V.".V.".".V.'!!"!".';;"."!".!!!"!;.si",899."94758 

December 31, 1908 $2 ,574,004.90 

December 31, 1910 $6,539,861.49 

December 31, 1912 $11,228,814.56 

Decexnber 31, 1914 $18,030,401.59 

Dec smber 31, 1916 $39 , 805 , 995 , 24 

Dei ember 31, 1917 $77,473,152.79 

NUMBER OF DEPOSITORS ( £ ecember 31, 1916, 90,683 
I December 31, 1917, 141,298 



produce a woman's dress advertisement stress- 
ing such freedom as this ? Do women protest 
against the "squeezed-in, hitching-up belt dis- 
comfiture" ? Of course they do not. Do they 
struggle for liberation? They do not. And if 
men yearn for some device that shall compel 
their pants to "stay put" is not this, too, evi- 
dence of an innate modesty at which women 
can but look in exasperated and uncompre- 
hending wonder, and of a virtue that must, as 
usual, be its own reward ? 



After all American talk about the sacrifices 
America is making for the Allies (says the 
Neat Republic > the figures produced by Mr. 
Hoover respecting American consumption of 
sugar are enough to make Americans feel un- 
j comfortable and look hypo critical. The plain 
; facts are that American consumption of sugar 
, during a period of distressing shortage has at 
| best slightly diminished. Each American con- 
I sumes over twice as much as each English- 
i man and almost four times as much as each 
{ Frenchman. Surely it is time to deal more 
drastically with such anomalies — with such 
1 overwhelming indications of a refusal or in- 
, ability on the part of the American to aban- 
| don under the shock of war the wasteful 
, indulgence of his ordinary* desires. Ameri- 
cans are the most reckless consumers of can- 
dies and sweet drinks in the world, and it is 
this class of consumption which is least neces- 
sary- and has the smallest food value. Some- 
thing can be done to diminish the drain made 
by candy stores and soda water fountains on 
the sugar supply by an appeal to voluntary 
effort, but the appeal should be backed up by 
a power of coercion with which the Food 
Administration is not now possessed, but 
which should be granted to it some time in 
the near future. 



The Boya of Verdun. 

The history" of Henri Berthaud, who is now 
thirteen years old, is one of the latest ex- 
amples of France holding out. Berthaud, the 
father, is a miller in the Breton village Es- 
coublac, of the lower Loire. He has a wife 
and three sons, of whom Henri is the oldest. 
His windmill is one of those three-storied 
round stone towers with a conical roof, near 
the top of which the fV-ur long flapping arms 
that catch the wind and turn the millstones 
are attached. From the ground to where the 
windmill's arms turn is nine times the height 
of the boy Henri. 

Two years ago the father was called to 
the war as a soldier. Unless the mill could 
be kept running his family would soon be des- 
titute and their only support would be lost. 
Henri was then only eleven, but he was a 
stout boy and was accustomed to help his 
father. He took his father's place. 

Ever since, for two years, it is the boy 
Henri Berthaud who receives the wheat from 
the farmers, stores it until it can be ground, 
sets the millstones in motion and regulates 
the grinding and bolting, after setting the 
sails of the windmill's arms, and then stores 
properly the flour and all the rest. The cus- 
tomers have been patient and helpful. 

Perhaps no one would have paid attention 
to this thirteen -year-old breadwinner of a 
family if it had not been for the new regu- 
lations made by the government to economize 
the use of flour for bread. Formerly, when 
wheat was more plentful, about 75 per cent, 
of its substance went into the flour for bread 
and 25 per cent, went for shorts and to bran 
for cattle. Now the flour has to be bolted so 
that 85 per cent, of the substance of the 
wheat shall be used for bread. 

Henri had been brought up by his father 
to grind and bolt the old white flour and 
separate the «horts and bran. The govern- 
ment inspector wished to know if the Ber- 
thaud mill was properly turning out the new- 
brown flour according to regulation. He 
found the boy was faithful and exact where 
many of the old millers had failed. He asked 
Henri if he had no one to help him. 

"Sometimes when the wind is too strong 
and I have to grind at night I ask one of my 
girl cousins to give me a hand at turning the 
sails." 

The inspector told what he had seen and a 
kind soul put 500 francs ($100) to the credit 
of Henri Berthaud, thirteen years old and 
running a grist mill by himself. He is one 



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of the many boys in France supporting the 
families whose men are fighting at Verdun : 

Ah ! ah ! ah ! yes, indeed. 

The lads of Verdun are a wonderful breed. 



The Finns are said to be bad advertisers, 
and hesitate to publish their sufferings abroad. 
That is perhaps the reason why the world has 
taken hardly any notice of them, or, if re- 
minded of their existence, has treated the 
question in a half-hostile manner. 



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Tanuaky 12, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



29 



STATEMENT 

At the Close of Business December 31, 1917, of the 

FRENCH AMERICAN BANK OF SAVINGS 

SAVINGS AND COMMERCIAL 

lOS SUTTER STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 

Member of Associated Savings Banks of San Francisco. 

RESOURCES 

First Mortgage Loans on Real Estate $ 4,110,910.66 

Bank Premises 519,550.00 

Safe Deposit Vaults, Furniture and Fixtures 38,000.00 

Real Estate 42,400.00 

United States, Municipal and Other Bonds 2,962,074.47 

Collateral and Personal Loans 1,164,199.20 

Letters of Credit, etc. 161,225.35 

CASH ON HAND AND IN BANKS 1,023,489.92 



Total Resources $10,021,849.60 

LIABILITIES 

Capital Paid in $750,000.00 

Surplus 194,000.00 

Undivided Profits 187,972.46—$ 1,131,972.46 

Contingent Fund 12,118.33 

Letters of Credit, Etc 113,556.95 

DEPOSITS 8,764,201.86 



Total Liabilities $10,021,849.60 

OFFICERS 

ARTHUR LEGALLET, President 

LEON BOCQUERAZ..lst Vice-President W. F. DUFFY Cashier 

J. M. DUPAS 2d Vice-President M. TANRON Assistant Cashier 

A. BOUSQUET Secretary P. L. WOLF Assistant Cashier 



G. Beleney 
J. A. Bergerot 
S. Bissinger 
Leon Bocqueraz 



DIRECTORS 

O. Bozio 
Charles Carpy 
J. M. Dupas 
John Ginty 



J. S. Godeau 
Arthur Legallet 
Geo. W. McNear 
X. de Pichon 



STORYETTES. 



Grave and Gay. Epierammatic and Otherwise. 

"Here, my poor man," said a kind old lady, 
"here is a shilling for you. Now don't go 
and spend it on vile drink." "Thank you, 
ma'am," answered the tramp heartily. "I'll 
not. I suppose, ma'am, you was a referring 
to the wretched stuff they 'as at the Dun 
Cow, ma'am ? Ah, but I'll go to the Black 
Bull. They keep tbe right sort there." 



Phyllis had been caught redhanded and her 
aunt was lecturing her. "You surely knew 
you were doing wrong ! Didn't your con- 
science tell you that?" she said. "Will my 
conscience tell me when I'm being naughty, 
then, auntie ?" "Yes, dear." Phyllis thought 
a moment, then remarked ; "Well, I don't 
mind it telling me, as long as it doesn't tell 
you." 

A housekeeper, going from home for the 
day, locked everything up, and, for the gro- 
cer's benefit, wrote on a card : "All out. 
Don't leave anything." This she stuck under 
the knocker of the front door. On her re- 
turn she found her house ransacked and all 
her choicest possessions gone. To the card 
on the door was added : "Thanks. We 
haven't left much." 



Among those present in line when a misty 
dawn broke over the scene of the third 
world's series game in New York was a 
large darky fan. "Nobody can have this 
chile's place in line," he warned loudly. "Ah 
came on a Pullman all the way from Nawth 
Ca-lina to see disser game." "You came on 
a Pullman?" asked his neighbor. "Yessuh, 
on it is right. On the roof of it, that's where 
Ah was. Oh, boy !" 



thing came straight down from the sixth 
floor to the bottom, and everybody was hurt 
'cept me. This here rope, too, looks a bit 
weak, but it'll probably last till we get up, 
though I don't know what we'll do if it 
doesn't, 'cos the engineman is away ill to- 
day, and his helper is just married, and I'm 
in charge of everything, and I don't know 
nothing about it. So it aint really what you'd 
call a dull life, is it ?" 



Smithers had been "lifting" the earth all 
round the course, a fact which, of course, -his 
keen-eyed caddie had not failed to observe. 
Finally the youngster said : "You axe a 
stranger in these parts, sir?" "Not exactly. 
I was born here, and all my folks are buried 
hereabouts." Then, as the golfer lifted an- 
other piece of earth with his driver, the 
caddie added: "I don't think, sir, you'll get 
deep enough with your driver; you'd better 
take your iron." 



Because the newly-commissioned major on 
the way to Toronto looked like ready money 
the porter had been very active in his atten- 
tions. His movements were of the "hot- 
foot" variety whenever the officer appeared 
to require service. Also he was careful to 
address the major as "gin'ral." And when 
the train neared the Union depot and fol- 
lowing the assiduous use of the brush, the 
sable servitor discovered himself in the pos- 
session of a dime he was equal to the emerg- 
ency. He clicked his heels together, saluted 
and remarked, "Corp'ral, Ah t'ank yo,' sah." 



A young Cambridge man who has not long 
been married usually confides his troubles to 
a friend whose matrimonial experience covers 
a period of twenty years. One day the for- 
mer remarked very despondently, "I said 
something to my wife she didn't like and she 
hasn't spoken to me for two days." The 
eyes of the old married man brightened. 
"Say, old man," he exclaimed eagerly, "can 
you remember what it was you said?" 



A tramp asked for something to eat at a 
farmhouse. "Are you a good Christian ?" 
asked the farmer. "Can't you see?" answered 
the man. "Look at the holes worn in the 
knees of my pants. What do they prove?" 
He was promptly given a good dinner, which 
he ate, and then turned to go. "Well, well !" 
exclaimed the farmer; "what made these holes 
in the back of your pants?" "Backsliding," 
replied the tramp as he hurried away. 



"Poor laddie," said the lady to the hotel 
elevator boy, "don't you find this work rather 
trying and monotonous?" "Not at all, ma'am. 
I like it. It's full of excitement. First of 
all, there's always the funny people coming 
in and out. Then there's other things. Only 
yesterday a man tried to get out before the 
elevator was down and cracked his skull. 
Then last week the machine broke, and the 



David Belasco was smiling at the extrava- 
gant attentions that are lavished hy the rich 
upon pet dogs. He spoke of the canine opera- 
tions for appendicitis, the canine tooth 
crownings, the canine wardrobe, and then he 
said : "How servants hate these pampered 
curs ! At a house where I was calling one 
cold day the fat and pompous butler entered 
the drawing-room and said: "Did you ring, 
madam ?' 'Yes, Harrison, I wish you to take 
Fido out walking for two hours.' Harrison 
frowned slightly. 'But Fido won't follow me, 
madam,' he said. *Then, Harrison, you must 
follow Fido.' " 



A preacher, who was in the habit of taking 
his wife with him on his preaching appoint- 
ments, said on arrival at the chapel in a 
country town : "My dear, you go in there ; 
you will be all right. I must go round to the 
vestry." In the vestibule the wife was met 
by a kind-hearted steward, who conducted her 
to a seat. At the close of the service the 
same kind-hearted steward gave her a hearty 
shake of the hand, adding how pleased he 
would be to see her at the service each Sun- 
day. Then, whispering, he said : "But, let 
me tell you, we don't get a duffer like this 
in the pulpit every Sunday." 



Squire Jones tole me dat he done miss some 
chickens dis week. Now, ef any ob our bred- 
dren hab fallen by de wayside in connection 
wid dose chickens, let him stay his hand 
from dat box. Deacon Smith, please pass de 
box an' Ah'll watch de signs an' see ef dere's 
any one in dis congregation dat needs me 
ter wrastle in prayer for him." The effect 
of this brief discourse was instantaneous and 
remarkable. Throughout the congregation 
loud whispers of "Len' me a qua'tah," "Let 
me hab half a dollah," "Gib me a nickel 'til 
mawnin'," were heard. Apparently every one 
put something in the box. The Rev. Sam 
Small Smith surveyed the coins with a satis- 
fied smile as he remarked : "Ah done tole 
Squire Jones dat none ob my lambs was 
guilty of sech diabolical eccentricity." 



THE MERRY MUSE. 

"When Mary's Lamb Grew Up. 
Mary had a little lamb — 

But how that lamb has grown! 
Now Mary'd rather walk a mile 
Than face that lamb alone. 

— Boston Transcript. 

Wheatless and Meatless. 
My Tuesdays are meatless, 

My Wednesdays are wheatless, 
I'm getting more eatless each day. 

The hotel is heatless, 
My bed is sheetless, 

They're sent to the Y. M. C. A. 

The barroom is treatless, 

My coffee is sweetless. 
Each day I get poorer and wiser 

My stockings are feetless, 
My trousers are seatless, 

My how I hate the Kaiser. 



To a Very Young Gentleman. 
My child, what painful vistas are before you! 

What years of youthful ills and pangs ana 
bumps — 
Indignities from aunts who "just adore" you, 

And chickenpox and measles, croup and mumps! 
I don't wish to dismay you, — it's not fair to, 

Promoted now from bassinet to crib, — 
But, O my babe, what troubles flesh is heir to 

Since God first made so free with Adam's rib! 

Laboriously you will proceed with teething; 

When teeth are here, you'll meet the dentist's 
chair; 
They'll teach you ways of walking, eating, 
breathing. 
That stoves are hot, and how to brush your 
hair. 
And so, my poor, undaunted little stripling. 

By bruises, tears, and trousers you will grow; 
And, borrowing a leaf from Mr. Kipling, 
I'll wish you luck, and moralize you so: 

If you can think up seven thousand methods 

Of giving cooks and parents heart disease; 
Can rifle pantry-shelves, and then give death odds. 

By water, fire, and falling out of trees; 
If you can fill your every boyish minute 

With sixty seconds' worth of mischief done, 
Yours is the house and everything that's in it, 

And, which is more, you'll be your father's son! 
— Christopher Morley, in Century Magazine. 



Mrs. Peck — I always think twice before I 
speak once. Peck — Exactly, my dear — but 
then you are such a quick thinker. — Boston 
Transcript. 



George Wills & Sons, Ltd. 

EXPORT AND IMPORT MERCHANTS 

SHIPPING 

230 CALIFORNIA STREET 

SAN FRANCISCO. CAL. 

Portland, Ore. London, Liverpool and Manchester 



The collections had fallen off badly in the 
colored church and the pastor made a short 
address before the box was passed. "Ah 
don't want any man to give more dan his 
share, breddren," he said gently, "but we 
mus' all gib ercordin' to what we rightly hab. 
Ah say rightly hab, breddren, because we 
don't want- no tainted money in de box. 



Carefully Guarded 

Watchful sentinels that never 
sleep guard all O. A. & E. Ry. 
trains between San Francisco 

and Sacramento. 

The electric automatic block signal system is 
operated with such a degree of accuracy and 
watchfulness as to seem almost superhuman. Out 
of an average of 300,000 indications each month 
not a single false movement was registered. 

** 98% of all trains are on time " 

OAKLAND, ANTIOCH & EASTERN RY. 

San Francisco Depot: Key Route Ferry 

Phone Sutter 2339 



West f oast - fl an F rancisco 
LIFE INSURANCE CO. 

HOME OFFICE 

354 PINE STREET 

SAN FRANCISCO 

BRANCH OFFICES 

LOS ANGELES, OAKLAND and SACRAMENTO, CAL. 

SEATTLE. TAC0MA. and SPOKANE, WASH. 

PORTLAND, ORE. 

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 

BOISE, IDAHO SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 



Admitted Assets $ 3,028,000 

Insurance in Force 35,036,000 

Premium Receipts 1916 1,348,000 



President 



C. 0. G. MILLER 



CITY AGENCY 
P. M. CAROE, Mgr., Balboa Building 



General Petroleum 
Corporation 

OFFICES AT 

San Francisco Los Angeles 

Alaska Commercial BIdg. Higgios Bldg. 



HAMMOND 

LUMBER COMPANY 

260 CALIFORNIA ST. 

REDWOOD, DOUGLAS FIR 
and PILING 



WALTERS SURGICAL COMPANY 

SURGEONS' INSTRUMENTS 

Hoipital and Sick Room Supplies 
Tnutei and Abdominal Supporters 

393 Sutter Street : : San Francisco, CaJ. 
Telephone Douglas 4017 



THE CONNECTICUT 

FIRE INSURANCE CO. 
of HARTFORD 

Established 1850 

PACIFIC DEPARTMENT 

THE INSURANCE EXCHANGE, San Francisco 

BENJAMIN J. SMITH - - - Manager 
Fked'k S. Dick, Assistant Manager 



BONESTELL & 


CO. 


PAPER 




The paper used in printing the Argonaut ii 
furnished by us 


CALIFORNIA'S LEADING PAPER 


HOUSE 


118 to 124 First Street, corner Minna, 


San Francisco 





ROMEIKE'S PRESS CLIPPING BUREAU 

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DRY DOCK FACILITIES — 2 Grarag Docks, 750 and 484 feet long; 3 Floating Docks, 310, 271 and 210 feet long 

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ENGINEERS AND SHIP BUILDERS 

Office and Works: City Office: 

20th and Michigan Streets 260 California Stree* 

SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 



30 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 12, 1918. 



G/atfo 

NEW YORK: 

48 East 57th Street 



Chinese Antiques 

SAN FRANCISCO: 

284 Post Street 



PERSONAL. 



Notes and Gossip. 
A chronicle of the social happenings dur- 
ing the past week in the cities on and around 
the Bay of San Francisco will be found in 
the following department : 

Mr. and Mrs. George A. Pope have announced 
the engagement of their daughter, Miss Emily 
Pope, and Lieutenant Mosley Taylor, U. S. A., of 
Boston. Lieutenant Taylor is the son of Mr. and 
Mrs. William Taylor of Boston and the grand- 
son of General Charles Taylor and Mrs. Taylor. 
He is a nephew of Mrs. Horace Pillsbury of this 
city. No date has been set for the marriage of 
Miss Pope and Mr. Taylor. 

Mr. and Mrs. Edgar De Pue have announced 
the engagement of their daughter, Miss Elva De 
Pue, and Mr. Warren Shepard Matthews of New 
York. Miss De Pue is the sister of Mrs. Jack 
Neville. No date has been set for the wedding. 

The marriage of Miss Marion Elizabeth Mercier 
and Mr. Mark Gerstle, Jr., was solemnized last 
week in San Francisco. Mr. Gerstle is the only 
son of Captain Mark Gerstle, U. S. A., and Mrs. 
Gerstle. Mr. and Mrs. Gerstle have gone to 
Southern California cm their wedding trip and 
upon their return they will reside in San Fran- 
cisco. 

Mrs. Chester Arthur gave a dinner recently at 
her home in Santa Earbara, her guests including 
Miss Alejandra Macondray, Miss Margaret 
Trimble, Miss Elizabeth Vail, Miss Margaret Dunn, 
Miss Elsie Stevens, Miss Alice Wetmore, Miss 
Dorothy Fithian, Miss Clara Oliver, Mr. Tallant 
Tubbs, Mr. Chester Arthur, Jr., Mr. William 
Biddle, Mr. Alvah Kaine, Mr. Hervey Jackson, 
Jr., Mr. Charles Dabne}', Jr., and Lieutenant 
George Raymond. 

Mr. Howard Spreckels gave a theatre and supper 
party last Thursday evening, his guests including 
Miss Cornelia Clampett, Miss Betty Folger, Miss 
Elena Folger, Miss Gretchen von Phul, Miss Jean 
Wheeler, Mr. Jack Morgan, Mr. Clark Crocker, 
and Mr. Gordon Johnson. 

Colonel Lincoln Karmany and Mrs. Karmany 
gave a cabaret dinner Monday evening at their 
home at Mare Island. Among the guests were 
Miss Dorothea Coon, Miss Elizabeth George, Miss 
Mary Gorgas, Miss Harriet Pomeroy, Miss Emelie 
Tubbs, Miss Catherine Wheeler, Miss Augusta 
Rathbone, Miss Isabelle Jennings, Miss Edith Kyn- 
nersley, and Miss Pauline Wheeier. 

Mrs. Edgar Benedict entertained at tea recently 
at the Fairmont Hotel, complimenting Mme. Mar- 
guerite Chenu, her guests including Mrs. Mark 
Gerstle, Mrs. James Otis, Mrs. William Palmer 
Horn, Mrs. George H. Mendell, Jr., and Mrs. 
William Sproule. 

Mr. Edward Greenway entertained a number of 
friends at dinner last Monday evening at the 
Fairmont Hotel. Among his guests were Mr. and 
Mrs. Frederick McNear, Mr. and Mrs. Augustus 
Taylor, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Welch, Mr. and 
Mrs. Latham McMullin, Mr. arid Mrs. Alexander 
Hamilton, Mrs. Samuel Hopkins, Colonel Richard 
Croxlon, Colonel John T. Haines, and Paymaster 
Walter Izard. 

Major William Devereux and Mrs. Devereux 
gave a dinner recently at Coronado. their guests 
including Captain Frederick Hussey and Mrs. 
Hussey, Lieu tenant- Commander Kirby Crittenden 
and Mrs. Crittenden, Miss Marion Baker, Miss 
Margaret Barrett, Captain Archibald Johnson, 
Major V. C. I. Dashwood, Judge P. H. Barlow, 
and Lieutenant Raymond Armsby. 

Miss Helen Hawkins gave a tea last Thursday 
at the Woman's Athletic Club, complimenting 
Miss Ruth Lent. The guests included Miss 
Adrienne Sharp, Miss Edna Taylor, Miss Marion 
Scott, Miss Adelaide Sutro, Miss Helen Hammer- 
smith, Miss Eleanor Spreckels, Miss Marie Louise 
Potter, Miss Barbara Sesnon, Miss Jane Carri- 
gan, Miss Carol Rulofson, Miss Dorothy Craw- 
ford, Miss Eleanor Morgan, Miss Francesca Deer- 
ing, Miss Aileen McWilliams, Miss Margaret 
Deahl, Miss Lucile McGrath, Miss Jean Howard, 
Miss Dorothy Clark, Miss Marie Spreckels, Miss 
Beatrice Lund, Miss Dolly Payne, and Miss Dor- 
othy Meyer. 

Mr. Edward Eyre, Jr., entertained at dinner 
last Monday evening at the Hotel St. Francis, his 
guests including Mr. and Mrs. William Parrott, 
Mrs. Robin Hayne, Mrs. Relda Scott, Mr. Ed- 
munds Lyman, and Mr. Edgar Eyre. 

Miss Harriet Pomeroy entertained a group of 
friends at dinner Saturday evening in compliment 
to Lieutenant Hanson Grubb and Mrs. Grubb. 

Mr. and Mrs. Percy Morgan gave a dinner 
and theatre party Monday evening, complimenting 
Miss Flora Miller. The guests included Mr. and 
Mrs. H. M. A. Miller. Mr. and Mrs. George W. 
McNear, Miss Flora Miller, Miss Gretchen von 
Phul, Miss Kate Crocker, Miss Marion Baker, 
Miss Cornelia Clampett, Miss Julia Van Fleet, 
Miss Edith Roe, Miss Jean Wheeler, Lieutenant 
George Young, Mr. John Morgan, Mr. Clark 
Spreckels, Captain Robert McDonald, Mr. Law- 
rence Gray, Mr. Percy Morgan, and Mr. Howard 
Spreckels. 

Mr. and Mrs. Mark Gerstle entertained a group 



| of friends at dinner New Year's Eve at the Hotel 

j St. Francis. 

The Junior War Work Council of San Fran- 
cisco will hold a rally this evening at the Civic 
Auditorium for the purpose of creating a public 
interest in the work of the council, which also 
promotes the Patriotic League. Miss Margaret 
Williams is the chairman of the local council and 
among the members are Mrs. Effingham Sutton, 
Mrs. F. Gloucester Willis, Mrs. George B. Wright, 
Mrs. John Smith, Mrs. Lillian Whitney, Miss 
Marion Huntington, Miss Marion Crocker, Miss 
Edith Slack, Miss Mary Gayley, Miss Marcia Fee, 
Miss Franc Pierce, Miss Anna Van Winkle, Miss 
Nellie Scott, Miss Blanche Son. Miss Gwladys 
Bowen, Miss Heynemann, and Miss Ruth Valen- 
tine. 

Miss Dolly Payne gave a dinner last Wednes- 
day at her home on Jones Street in honor of Miss 
Ruth Lent. The guests included Miss Marie 
Welch, Miss Dorothy Clark, Miss Alice Moffitt, 
Miss Nance Obear, Miss Francesca Deering, Miss 
Dorothy Meyer, Miss Adrienne Sharp, Miss Marie 
Louise Potter, Miss Eleanor Morgan, Miss Aileen 
McWilliams, Miss Helen Hammersmith, Miss 
Eleanor Spreckels, Miss Katherine Masten, Miss 
Margaret Deahl, Miss Marie Spreckels, Mr. 
Walter Dean, Mr. Calvin Tilden, Mr. Edwin 
Sudden, Mr. Frank Drum, Mr. George Kleyser, 
Mr. Kenneth Rulofson, Mr. Ted Scribner, Mr. 
Gordon Hitchcock, Mr. Richard Magee, Mr. Tom 
Williams, Mr. Noel Morshead, Mr. Alan Drum, 
Mr. James Phillips, Mr. Charles Mohun, Mr. 
Richard Dunn, Mr. Charles Gwynn, Mr. Jefferson 
Doolittle, and Mr. Herman Richardson. 

Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Merrill Brown of Alameda 
entertained at a dinner-dance at the Palace Hotel 
on Monday night for their daughter, Miss Janet 
Brown. Sixteen of the younger set were their 
guests. 



A SERENE HOUSE OF REST 

V/aere tired, nervous and 
s 1 epleas people may obtain 
-v flat they need. 

^LCREST ORCHARD 

LOS GATOS, CAL. 



The Players' Club. 

On January 28th the Players' Club will 
again present a series of one-act plays in the 
Little Theatre at 3209 Clay Street Four 
plays of unusual interest have been selected. 

"Ruby Red," a comedy by Clarence Strat- 
um of St. Louis, will be staged. The Cin- 
cinnati Art Theatre produced "Ruby Red" 
with so great a success that it was staged by 
the Philadelphia Little Theatre and later pro- 
duced in the Northampton Municipal The- 
atre, the onl)' municipal playhouse in the 
United States. 

Another charming comedy is "Joint Owners 
in Spain," by Alice Brown. 

A harlequinade by the famous Russian 
dramatist, Nicholas Evreiuov, called "The 
Merry Death," will be given an attractive 
presentation. It has been staged with great 
success by the Washington Square Players 
and the Little Theatre of Boston. The dance 
of death will be given by Miss Virginia 
Whitehead, and incidental music will be fur- 
nished by the Players' Club Trio. 

A drama which will stir a keen interest is 
"Christmas on the Border," by Colonel R. C. 
Croxton of the Presidio. It is a military 
sketch, taking place on the Mexican border. 

The dramas will be played every night for 
one week and a matinee on Saturday, Feb- 
ruary 2d, at 2 :30. 



Gerald L. Dillon, who for many years has 
been successfully associated with the Orpheum 
as publicity manager, was made a thirty-third 
degree Mason at a special session ot the Su- 
preme Council of the Ancient and Accepted 
Scottish Rite of Freemasonry held last Satur- 
day night at the Scottish Rite Temple. This 
degree is the highest and most prized in free- 
masonry, for it is awarded to very few and 
only for exceptional merit. Mr. Dillon's se- 
lection is most popular among his brethren, 
who regard it as a well-deserved reward for 
his long and brilliant service in the order. 



Other countries have suffered, but no coun- 
try has felt so broadly and deeply the bur- 
dens of the war as has Russia, according to 
Maj or Stanley Washburn. To understand 
this one must realize that Russia has called 
to the colors nearly 14,000,000 men, that her 
casualties including prisoners and others be- 
coming ineffective through military operations 
amount to nearly 7,000,000. In addition to 
this there have taken refuge within the 
mighty spaces of her great domain nearly 
15,000,000 refugees, fleeing before the terror 
of the German scourge. It is fair to assume 
that between 50,000,000 and 60,000,000 hu- 
man beings, either directly or through those 
near and dear to them, have felt in their 
daily lives the iron grip of the war. 



In twenty-seven days of fighting at the 
Wilderness, Spottsylvania . Courthouse, and 
Cold Harbor, Grant in 1864 lost 79,129 men in 
killed, wounded, and missing. The British, 
with a vastly greater army in action or re- 
serve, lost on all fronts during thirty days' 
fighting in Europe in November of this year 
120,679. 



"BURUNGAME HILLS" 

Let us build you a REAL HOME on the sunny, 
wooded slopes of Burlingame Hills, on a large 
Villa Site, near Hillsborough, commanding a 
beautiful view and excellent climate. 

PANAMA REALTY CO. - 68 Post St. 

H. B. CLIFTON, Sales Manager 
Phone Sutter 4610 



Pacific Service Employees' Association. 

The Pacific Service Employees' Association, 
which now contains some sixteen hundred 
members, is an organization for all the em- 
ployees of the Pacific Gas and Electric Com- 
pany in San Francisco and all the outlying 
districts in which this company operates, and 
is rapidly growing and taking definite form. 

All the activities of the employees, of any 
nature whatsoever, are taken up through the 
association- These include athletics of all 
kinds, for which tournaments, etc., are ar- 
ranged between different districts; educational 
matters, entertainments, etc., and, what is of 
greatest interest now, the present where- 
abouts and doings of all men who have left 
the service of the company to enlist in the 
service of the United States. The matter of 
permanent headquarters is now being taken 
up and the members of the association hope 
soon to have a "home." 

Two meetings are held each month — one at 
Oakland and one at San Francisco — at which 
matters relating to the company and the em- 
ployees are brought up and discussed so that 
all members may keep informed of the com- 
pany's activities. Papers concerning the work 
being performed by the Pacific Gas and Elec- 
tric Company are read at these meetings and 
prove to be of great educational value. There 
is always plenty of entertainment provided at 
the meetings, also, as the association boasts 
of some very* clever members, a large chorus, 
and a good orchestra. 



In the Philippines American soldiers on 
several occasions came in contact with Sulu 
women warriors. In one of the last battles 
on the islands the Sulus fortified themselves 
in the bowl of an extinct volcano. It was 
rushed and captured by American soldiers, 
who discovered to their dismay after the 
battle that a number of their antagonists had 
been women. Their figures were as slim as 
those of the men; both sexes wore their hair 
long, with handkerchiefs over their heads, 
and the women wore trousers similar to those 
worn in Turkey. Thus they were practically 
undistinguishable from the men. The bravery 
of these. women warriors appears all the more 
remarkable when it is recalled that according 
to the Mohammedan faith a man who is slain 
while fighting Christians is translated at once 
to heaven, but as the women are not sup- 
posed to have souls their sacrifice of life is 
without reward in a hereafter. 



"How do you account for the sugar short- 
age?" "Dunno. There are as many fellows 
raising Cain as ever." — Boston Transcript. 



To Our Friend*. 

You wouldn't dream of leaving large sums 
of money in your home or office day after 
day and night after night. 

Yet you leave valuable treasures there — 
heirlooms, jewelry, keepsakes — which money 
could never replace ; you leave important papers 
there — insurance policies, securities, receipts. 
Liberty Bonds — the loss of which would cost 
you large sums of money. 

Did it ever occur to you that there is ab- 
solutely no safety for your valuables in your 
home or office ? 

You do not need to be reminded of fire 
dangers and the uncertainty and havoc of 
them, but you may not realize what an in- 
tricate, scientific, almost infallible profession 
burglary is ! Home and office locks and safes 
are slight obstacles in the way of a profes- 
sional thief. 

Your turn may not have come yet, but that 
does not mean that it never will. 

But, it never will if you take the proper 
precautions. — Don't trust the home hiding 
places — a joke to thieves — nor to an office 
safe, because there is only one really secure 
place — a safe deposit box! 

THE CROCKER SAFE DEPOSIT 
VAULTS have been built to defeat the 
professional burglar and safecracker, and to 
safeguard against earthquake and fire. 

They were built by expert vault builders. 
These vaults are probably the largest, strong- 
est, and best vaults west of New York. 

There are two entrances, one on Market 
Street, and one direct from the Bank, which 
saves time for those who have banking busi- 
ness and a deposit box. 

There is a large and beautifully-appointed 
Committee Room and a Reception Parlor in 
the Ladies' Department, where every facility 
is found for reading, writing, resting. 
Stenographers, Notary and Messenger Service 
are Fight at hand. 

The boxes are large and conveniently ar- 
ranged, and the key on your chain is the 
only one that unlocks your box. You are 
assured of absolute privacy, and, for about 
ONE CENT A DAY, you are assured also of 
perfect protection. 

Give us the pleasure of letting us show you 
through these splendid vaults. 

CROCKER SAFE DEPOSIT VAULTS 
Crocker Bldg., Post and Market Sts. 
Under Management 
John F. Cunningham. (Adv.) 



Hotel Oakland 

OAKLAND, CAL. 

Among the finest Hotels in 
the State, Where Welcome 
and Service Await All. 

American and European Plan 

W. C. JURGENS, Gen'l Manager 




ote] 

fesAnjeles 



An absolutely 
fire-proof 
hotel of 

distinctively 
high standard*. 

Logical 

headquarters for 
flan Franciscans. 



VERNON GOODWIN 

Yict-Prti_ and M.oagiBi Director 



HOTEL SHATTUCK 

BERKELEY'S FINEST 
FAMILY HOTEL 



300 beautifully furnished guest 
rooms, fireproof building, and 
one of the most homelike and 
attractive hotels in the West. 
Offers superior accommodations 
at reasonable rates — high enough 
to insure best service and cui- 
sine. 

Thirty-five minutes from San Francisco. 

EVERY RECREATION-DANCING, 
TENNIS. ETC. 

Under Management of 
W. W. WHITECOTTON 



HOTEL 

WHITCOMB 

AT CIVIC CENTER 

Tea is served every afternoon, 

and there is dancing every 

Saturday night in the 

SUN ROOM 



J. H. VAN HORNE 



Manager 




Hotel Del Coronado 

(American Plan) 

CORONADO BEACH 

CALIFORNIA 

Completely equipped with AUTOMATIC SPRINKLER SYSTEM 

SPLENDID 18-HOLE GOLF COURSE 

Motoring, Tennis, Bay and Surf Bathing, 

Fishing and Boating 

Near Camp Kearny, San Diego 

JOHN J. HERNAN, Manager 



W. B. HAYWARD - CATERER 

Successor to 

Wheeler &. Hayward 

Most Complete Catering Establishment 

in San Francisco 

Equipment for 2000 people. Chairs, tables, 
linens, china and silverware, rented for ban- 
quets, weddings, lunches, dinners, receptions. 
Punches, fancy ice-cream, frozen dainties, 
lemonades, and sandwiches a specialty. 
Tel. Franklin 1089 : 1157 SUTTER STREET 



January 12, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



31 



F. N. DOWLING 

FURNITURE 

AND 

DECORATION 



26 East 57th Street 
LONDON NEW YORK 

Formerly of 473 Fifth Ave. 



EXCLUSIVE FURNITURE OF 
FRENCH AND ENGLISH 
PERIODS, SILKS, TAPES- 
TRIES, BROCADES, OLD 
ENGLISH LINENS, ETC. 



PERSONAL. 



Movements and Whereabouts. 
Annexed will be found a resume of move- 
ments to and from this city and Coast and 
the whereabouts of absent Californians : 

Mrs, Benno Hart and her daughter. Miss Con- 
stance Hart, who have been visitng in New York, 
are at present passing several weeks in Washing- 
ton. 

Mr. and Mrs. William Babcock have gone to 
Coronado for a visit of several days. 

Mr. Alexander Lilley and Miss Ethel Lilley 
have returned to San Francisco, after a sojourn 
of several months in the East. Mrs. Lilley is 
visiting her sister, Mrs. Charles Wheeler, in 
Philadelphia and will not return to California for 
several weeks. 

The Misses Betty and Elena Folger returned 
Sunday to Menlo Park to continue their studies, 
after having passed the Christmas holidays with 
their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Folger. 

Mrs. Macondray Moore and Miss Alexandra Ma- 
condray returned Tuesday to San Francisco, after 
a brief sojourn in Santa Barbara. 

Dr. Chester Woolsey left Saturday for Ameri- 
can Lake, where he will be stationed for several 
weeks. 

Mr. a-'d Mrs. James Flood have returned to 
their home on Broadway from a visit to New 
York. 

Mrs. Philip Van Home Lansdale has returned 
to her home on Broadway, after a visit of several 
weeks at Coronado with her Sister, Mrs. George 
Pillsbury. 

Mr. and Mrs. Edgar De Pue and Miss Elva De 
Pue have been passing several days at their ranch 

fear Yolo. 
Miss Edith Roe is visiting here from li2r home 
■in Tacoma and is the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Percy 
jMorgan at the Palace Hotel. 

Mr. and Mrs. Benton Byrd, whose marriage took 
place a few weeks ago, left Saturday for China, 
where they will remain for several months. 
I Mr. and Mrs. Charles Whitney, who have been 
Visiting here from their home in Portland, have 
gone to Los Angeles, where they will remain until 
the first of February. 

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Oxnard have left for a 
visit of several weeks in New York and Balti- 
more. 

Mr. and Mrs. James Sperry will leave in a few 
days for Colusa, where they will reside indefi- 
nitely. 

Mrs. Oliver Wyman will pass the winter season 
•with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. James Otis, at 
their home on Broadway. Lieutenant Wyman left 
several days ago for France. 

t Mrs. Norn's Davis and her children returned 
'.Thursday to San Mateo, after having passed sev- 
eral months in the south with Captain Davis. 

Captain Laurance Scott left last wck for Camp 
Kearny, where he has joined the Grizzlies. 

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Chapman returned last 



week to San Francisco, after a visit in Los An- 
geles with the latter's mother, Mrs. Ygnacio 
Sepulveda. 

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Farqnharson have re- 
turned to San Francisco, after a visit of several 
weeks in the southern part of the state. 

Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Stow have been spending 
several days in San Francisco from their home in 
Santa Barbara. 

Mr. C. B. Jennings is passing several days in 
Los Angeles with Mr. and Mrs. Cosmo Morgan, 

Mrs. Robin Hayne has been spending a few 
days at the Fairmont Hotel from her home in San 
Mateo. 

Mr. and Mrs. Fentriss Hill have returned to 
their home in San Mateo, after a sojourn of sev- 
eral weeks in the East. 

Mr. and Mrs. John Drexel and their daughter, 
Miss Alice Drexel, are visitng in Santa Barbara 
from their home in Philadelphia. 

Mr. and Mrs. Ferdinand Peterson and Mrs. 
Ward Mailliard have returned to San Francisco 
from Tacoma, where they had been visiting Mr. 
Baltsar Peterson. 

Miss Jean Wheeler and Miss Cornelia Clampett 
left Tuesday for a week's visit at Carmel-by-the- 
Sea. 

Miss Lily O'Connor returned to San Francisco a 
few days ago from Bakersfield, where she was the 
guest of Captain William McKktrick and Mrs. 
McKittrick. 

Mr. and Mrs. Clinton La Montagne returned 
Saturday to San Francisco, after a brief sojourn 
at Del Monte. 

Mrs. Katherine Hooker is enjoying a visit of 
several days in Santa Barbara. 

Mr. and Mrs. Talbot Walker have taken a house 
in Santa Barbara, where they will pass the re- 
mainder of the winter. 

Mrs. J. Athearn Folger has returned to her 
home on Pacific Avenue, after a visit in San 
Diego with her daughter, Mrs. Joseph A. Dono- 
hoe, Jr. 

Mr. and Mrs. Horace 1'illsbury have returned 
to California, after an extended visit in Boston. 

Mr. Leon Walker left Thursday for Yale, 
after having passed the holidays in San Francisco 
with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Willis Walker. 

Mrs. Peter Martin has taken apartments at the 
Hotel Richelieu for the remainder of the winter 
season. 

Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Jackling left last Wednes- 
day for New York and Washington, planning to 
remain in the East indefinitely. 

Miss Ethel Shorb has gone to Philadelphia to 
visit her sister, Mrs. John Murtagh. 

Mr. and Mrs. Ferdinand C. Peterson of Belve- 
dere expect to leave shortly for Coronado. 

Having finished the government course to which 
he was appointed in Philadelphia, Dr. and Mrs. 
Harold A. Fletcher are in New York awaiting fur- 
ther orders. 

Among recent arrivals at the Hotel Oakland are 
Mr. and Mrs. C. M. Gleason, San Francisco; 
Grace Ellsworth, New York: Mr. and Mrs. J. 
Prazo, Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Clark, New York; 
Mr. and Mrs. H. Watson, San Francisco; Mrs. 

C. R. Hill and son, Philadelphia; Mr. and Mrs. G. 

D. Davidson, Los Angeles; Mr. and Mrs. L. 
Taylor, San Francisoc; Mr. and Mrs. E. S. 
Hammond, Los Angeles; Mrs. R. E. Carney, 
Philadelphia; Commodore F. M. Bostwick, U. S. 
N. ; Mr. and Mrs. R. R. Strange and son, Bur- 
lingame; Mrs. L. E. Doan, Jr., San Anselmo; 
Mrs. L. F. Breuner, Mr. R. W. Breuner, Sacra- 

*mento. 



A water mill one hundred years old, said 
to be the only one of its type now in opera- 
tion in the United States, is grinding out 
whole wheat flour in Clarke County, Indiana. 
No little engineering skill was employed in its 
construction. At a point in Fourteen-Mile 
Creek a tunnel was cut through solid rock 
ninety feet below the summit of the hill thus 
penetrated, and the mill race is fed through 
this bore to the overshot wheel. 



Within twelve hours after receiving news 
of the Halifax disaster the woman's commit- 
tee of the Council of National Defense had 
equipped a relief steamer and started it to 
the scene of the disaster. 




Language is sometimes used to conceal thought : but on a Shasta Label it 
reveals what is purest and best in water. 

SDCTY CENTS FOR SIX SIPHONS DELIVERED AT YOUR RESIDENCE 
SHASTA WATER FROM SHASTA SPRINGS 

Telephone your grocer or the SHASTA WATER COMPANY 
San Francisco : Oakland : Alameda : Berkeley : Sacramento 



Hall's Golfing Record. 
Holworthy Hall, author of "Dormie One 
and Other Golf Stories," says he has a right 
to talk about golf for the following reasons: 

1. Since 1896, when I first saw the game 
of golf played at St. Augustine, Florida, and 
succumbed on the spol, I have played over 
1500 rounds of golf. 

2. On 1499 of these rounds I wasn't play- 
ing my game. 

3. T«c profanity I have used if set in 
7-point Cheltenham Bold Condensed, and 
placed end to. end, would reach from the 
Garden City Golf Club to the moon eight and 
one-half times. The damns I have said, if 
similarly treated, would make one colossal 
damn six hundred and thirty-eight times as 
big as Assouan ; and if placed as an ob- 
struction to Niagara Falls would cause the 
Niagara River to back up as far as New Or- 
leans, and put the Woolwortb Building under 
sixteen feet and eight inches of water. 

4. The rubber in f he golf balls I have lost 
would fill a freight train composed of ninety- 
seven cars with a capacity of forty tons each, 
and the effort I have expended in hunting 
for said balls in the tall grass would, if trans- 
lated into foot pounds, lift that freight train 
an inch and a half higher than the Washing- 
ton Monument, and hold it there indefinitely. 

5. The power I have exerted in swinging 
clubs would be sufficient to beat twenty-six 
carpets, each as long as the distance from 
St. Andrews to Whitemarsh, and as wide as 
the distance from Baltusrol to North Jersey, 
once every week for 256 consecutive weeks. 

6. The skin I have lost in blisters would 
make for each of seventy-nine large, Asiatic 
elephants a completely new epidermis, war- 
ranted not to crock or fade. 

7. The money I have spent on inefficient 
caddies would, if placed in a savings' bank 
at 4 per cent, interest until next Thursday. 
be enough to provide me with an annual in- 
come for life of forty thousand dollars net. 

8. I have never yet beaten a man who ad- 
mitted afterwards that he was in good health. 
The diseases of my victims, if catalogued and 
briefed, would include every known ailment 
from the botts to the blind staggers. 

9. The best record I ever made on any 
course was seventy-eight actual shots, five 
cusswords, three dollars and a quarter profit, 
and six cigars. 

10. The sclaffed shots I have made, if ac- 



YOU CAN RUN THE NAVY 

Upon Water 



But "Sammy" wants good, refreshing Tea 
He deserves the Best. Send him a package of 



Vtdgw 



ays 



f ea 



Awarded Gold Medal San Francisco 1915 
Grand Prize San Diego 1916 



New York Office 



111-113 Hudson Street 



cumulated into one gigantic whole, would be 
equivalent to the excavation necessary to dig 
a trench eight feet deep, four feet wide, from 
the town hall of Bangor, Maine, to a point 
eleven miles southwest of Xenia, Ohio; and 
the turf removed by the said operation would 
reclaim an area of the Gulf of Mexico as 
large as the State of Connecticut, plus half 
of Westchester County. 

11. The hooked and sliced shots I have 
made, if straightened out, would have saved 
seven years and three months of my life, pre- 
vented two-thirds of my hair falling out, and 
saved me $13,994 in actual cash. 

12. The cigars I have smoked on the links 
would furnish each soldier of the American, 
French, and English armies with one-tenth of 
one cigar daily for eleven "days, including 
Sundays and legal holidays. 



British labor organizations are proposing 
a scheme whereby able young workmen can 
compete for art scholarships in music, paint- 
ing, acting, and kindred arts through a penny 
levy per year of every trade unionist in the 
kingdom. This will give 3,000,000 pennies 
per year, and found many scholarships for 
men and women who have ability and ambi- 
tion. 



Nicholas Romanoff, the ex-Czar of Russia, 
it is said still has on deposit in the Bank of 
England $35,000,000, placed there years ago 
in provision for the rainy day which now has 

come. 



Tid — Is he a civil 
very. — Town Topics. 



engineer ? Tad — Not 



Western 
Pacific 

Through Service 
DAILY 



Chicago 
Kansas City 



St. Louis 
Omaha 



Salt Lake City 
and Denver 

Observation and Compartment Cars 

Standard and Tourist Sleepers 

Excellent Dining Car Service 

Electric Lights 

Tickets, Information, Literature 

Western Pacific Ticket Offices 



665 Market St. 



Ferry Depot 



OAKLAND : 
1326 Broadway and 3d and 



32 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 12, 1918. 



Portraits 

by pkoWraply 

WEDassorvville 

Studio Sacks Blc 
140 Geary Streel 



ielepko 



K.earry 2091 



THE LATEST STYLES IN 

Choice Woolens 

H. S. BRIDGE & CO. 

Merchant Tailors 
108-110 Sutter St. French Bank Bldg. 



Geo. E. Billings Roy C. Ward Geo. B. Dinsmore 
J. C. Muessdorff er Jas. W. Dean 

GEO. E. BILLINGS CO. 

ALL FORMS OF INSURANCE 
EFFECTED 

312 California Street, San Francisco, CaJ. 
Phone — Douglas 2283 



Park Sanitarium 

FOR THE CARE AND 
TREATMENT OF 

ALCOHOL AND 
DRUG ADDICTIONS 

With Accommodations for 
Selected Cases of 

Chronic Invalidism and the Acute 
Psychoses and Neuroses 

Masonic Ave. and Page St. 

Telephone Market 8048 



THE ALLEGED HUMORISTS. 

"Hi, Bill! Here comes a gas wave!" 
"Thank Heavens ! This toothache's almost 
kilHn' me." — Cartoons Magazine. 

Howell — I feel like 50 cents. Powell — You 
mean like 30 cents. Howell — No ; everything 
has been marked up. — Life. 

She — What's the meaning of "Giving com- 
fort to the enemy"' ? He — I think it means 
"Payin' alimony." — Cartoons Magazine. 

"What do you think ? Smith's widow broke 
his will." "That's no news. She did it the 
first day she married him." — Baltimore Ameri- 
can. 

"Officer, if I stay on this street will it take 
me to the Public Library- ?" "Yes, mum. But 
not unless ye keep movin*, mum." — Birming- 
ham Age-Herald. 

Wife— That odious Mrs. Nexdore has been 
saying that I have an unruly tongue. Hub — 
Unruly ? Nonsense. Why, your tongue re- 
sponds to your every impulse with implicit 
obedience. — Boston Transcript. 

"It won't, be much of a story, will it ?" 
"What?" "When our grandchildren ask us 
what we did in the great war, and we have 
to tell them that once a week we went with- 
out meat." — Detroit Free Press. 

Old Lady — Why can't the admiralty tell us 
how many submarines have been sunk ? Jack 
—Well, y' see, mum, we can't spare enough 
divers to walk about the bottom of the sea 
and count 'em. — Passing Shozi: 

"My friend," said the solemn individual, 
"what are you doing for those who come 
after you?" "Doing for them? I'm trying 
to dodge the pests," replied the man who 
was harassed by bill collectors. — Boston Tran- 
script. 

"This is a special flour for making flannel 
cakes." The young housewife was trying to 
appear wise. "Does it make good cakes ?" 
she asked- "Excellent flannel cakes, mum." 
"Ah, um. Will they shrink ?" — Louisville 
Courier-Journal. 

"Don't you love our song, 'The Star- 
Spangled Banner' ?" "I do," replied Senator 
Sorghum. "Then why don't you join in the 
chorus ?" "My friend, the way for me to 
show real affection for a song is not to try to 
sing it." — Washington Star. 

Draft Official — On what ground do you 
claim exemption from military service ? 



The Sperry Flour Company began with one 
mill in California in 1 852. Today it has 
twelve mills in operation (among them the 
largest on the Pacific Coast) producing 
QUALITY PRODUCTS for quality 
homes, distributed through quality retail 
grocers. The steady growth of this big flour 
and cereal institution is the best evidence of a 
constant and satisfying service to the public. 



Sperry Flour Co. 

San Francisco 




Rastus, Esq. — Dis wah am bein' fit to mek 
de worl' safe fo' demockasy, am it not ? 
Draft Official — Yes ; sure. Rastus, Esq. — 
Wal, Ise a 'Publican. — Judge. 

"How did you come to be a performer on 
the bass viol." "Well, when I decided to be 
a musician I got father to promise to buy me 
a fiddle. But father always was one of those 
men who want to get as much as possible for 
their money." — Washington Star. 

"Can you imagine a billion dollars?" 
"Yes," answered the cautious citizen. "I 
think I can. All you have to do is to pic- 
ture a figure '1' with a long string of ciphers 
after it. A mental grasp of a billion doesn't 



cause me near the difficulty of a hand-to-hand 
struggle for two dollars and a half." — Wash- 
ington Star. 

Shears — How is it that young Scribleigh 
has been attending church so regularly of 
late? Typo — Why, he says that he likes to 
go where he is always sure of having his 
contributions accepted. — The Lamb. 

"Do you think a man in politics ought to 
tell the truth on all occasions?" "No," re- 
plied Senator Sorghum ; "a man who is in a 
position to know the truth on all occasions is 
usually surrounded with great precautions 
against his telling anything at alU'^Woshing- 
ton Star. 




The Argonaut. 




Vol. LXXXII. No. 2130. 



San Francisco, January 19, 1918. 



Price Ten Cents 



PUBLISHERS' NOTICE: The Argonaut (title trade-marked) is 
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FORTY- FIRST YEAR. 



ALFRED HOLMAN ------- Editor 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

EDITORIAL: Mexico — The Congressional Investigations — 
Our Purposes in the War — Lower California — The Gov- 
ernment and the Railroad Business — Editorial Notes. .. .33-35 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 35 

THE THEATRE OF WAR. By Sidney Coryn 35-36 

INDIVIDUALITIES: Notes About Prominent People All 

Over the World 36 

OLD FAVORITES: "A Serenade," by Sir Walter Scott; 

"Love Among the Ruins," by Robert Browning 36 

LORD MORLEYS RECOLLECTIONS: Personal Reminis- 
cences and Comments of a Great Leader of English 

Liberalism 37 

BUSINESS NOTES 38 

ADVERSARIES: A Story of a Domestic Misunderstanding. 

By Sylvia Lind 39 

THE LATEST BOOKS: ■ Critical Notes — Briefer Reviews — 

Gossip of Books and Authors — New Books Received 40-41 

CURRENT VERSE: "The Anxious Dead," by John McCrae; 
"Chopin's Funeral March." by Christopher Braithwaite; 

"The Theatre," by Samuel Hoffenstein 41 

DRAMA: St. Francis Little Theatre; A Group of New York 

Plays; Theatrical Items. By Josephine Hart Phelps 42 

FOYER AND BOX-OFFICE CHAT 43 

VANITY FAIR: The Morals of the Clam— To Encourage 

Marriages 44 

STORYETTES: Grave and Gay, Epigrammatic and Otherwise 45 

THE MERRY MUSE 45 

PERSONAL: Notes and Gossip — Movements and Where- 
abouts 46 

REAL FOUNDER OF RED CROSS? An Italian Soldier Said 

to Have Created It in 1586 47 

THE ALLEGED HUMORISTS: Paragraphs Ground Out by 

the Dismal Wits of the Day 48 



Mexico. 

It is observed that in relation to Mexico the fine 
phrases of the past five years are forgot. We are 
abandoning transcendental idealism and turning toward 
the practical. American troops who chase Mexican 
bandits across the line and give them what they deserve 
are no longer court-martialed or even reprimanded. In 
a quiet way we are massing a force of 15,000 marines 
in the vicinity of the Tampico oil fields. We are 
mobilizing a full division of cavalry, known as the 
Fifteenth Division of the regular army, in Texas. Be- 
hind a mask that grows thinner every day we are 
showing our teeth to Carranza, our one-time idol. A 
man of the Argonaut's acquaintance, familiar with the 
ins and outs of Mexican and Central American mili- 
tary affairs, informs it that "Hell is going to pop in 
Mexico very soon." We suspect that this is sound in- 
formation. Carranza, whom we practically established 
in authority in Mexico, is almost openly in alliance 
with our Teutonic enemies. There is surely coming a 
time when he will need to have his comb cut, and 
there are evidences that the Washington government is 



getting itself in position, when times and conditions 
shall be ripe, to do the job. 

All along it has been obvious to everybody except 
President Wilson that our national security is de- 
pendent upon a more or less authoritative connec- 
tion with Mexico. Likewise it has been obvious to 
everybody except Mr. Wilson that anything like a 
settled and orderly condition of affairs in Mexico is 
unattainable through domestic forces. Either the 
L T nited States or some other country able to create and 
sustain order must first or last hold a supervisory au- 
thority over Mexico. The logic of the situation is 
plain enough. We shall not permit anybody else to 
interfere with Mexico. We shall ultimately establish 
over that country a responsibility similar to that we 
have held now for more than twenty years over Cuba. 
In other words, we shall make the Mexicans behave 
themselves. It should have been done long ago, not 
merely for our own security, but to the vast advantage 
of Mexico itself 

If Carranza had a grain of common sense, not to 
speak of statesmanlike diplomacy, he would hold him- 
self subject to the moral obligation implied in ac- 
ceptance of many substantial aids at the hands of the 
Washington government. At the very least he should 
have held aloof from our enemies. While he has not in 
concrete terms allied himself with Germany, it is none 
the less evident that he has done it in effect. He is 
today harboring German agents, permitting Mexico to 
become a base for prospective German operations. He 
needs a call-down, and a sharp one. And unless all 
signs fail he is in the way of getting it. We are, as 
above intimated, "surrounding" Mexico by land and 
sea. We are getting in a position that will enable us 
when "Hell pops" to avoid being hurt by the explosion. 



The Congressional Investigations. . 

Since the holiday recess the chief interest at Wash- 
ington has been the work of three congressional in- 
vestigating committees. One has been investigating 
the Shipping Board, another investigating Hoover, and 
a third has conducted a pretty searching inquiry into 
the operations of the War Department. The daily 
newspapers have given us scraps and snatches of testi- 
mony brought out in these inquiries, but they have 
hardly reflected the full significance and effect of dis- 
closures which exhibit mismanagement, blundering, and 
wholesale waste in several departments of govern- 
mental activity. 

The investigation of Hoover came to a sudden col- 
lapse. Its only effects were (1) an exhibition of the 
hindrances placed in Mr. Hoover's path by selfish in- 
terest; (2) illustration of the narrowness and mean- 
ness of Senator Reed of Missouri, notorious pacifist 
and chairman of the committee. Mr. Hoover, stung to 
resentment, gave his critics a public dressing-down. 
He succeeded both in showing up the malice of his 
accusers and in justifying himself. But it was a 
policy of questionable discretion. From the beginning 
of his career in Belgium, Mr. Hoover has avoided 
rather than sought publicity either for himself or his 
assistants. He is now engaged in a work which must 
at a thousand points come into conflict with private 
interest. Senator Reed and Mr. Spreckels are merely 
the first of an oncoming army of obstructionists. Mr. 
Hoover's best policy will be to go steadily forward 
about his business, leaving the howlers to howl un- 
answered and depending upon ultimate results to 
justify his courses. Nothing will be gained, but much 
may be lost, by halting to kick every cur that may rise 
up to bark at and restrain him. 

The investigation of the Shipping Board got quickly 
into deep water — into water so deep that it was thought 
best to swim ashore without going to the bottom of 
things. The story is too long for detailed development, 



and perhaps for the present the best course will be to 
cover past mistakes, blunders, and crimes with the 
mantle of forgetfulness — at least until such time as 
disclosures may not serve to divert the mind of the 
country from the main purpose of prosecuting the war. 
Delay, gross extravagance, and gross corruption have 
beyond a doubt marked the work done by and under 
the Shipping Board. But it appears that at last the 
organization is in capable hands. We shall in course 
of time get through the agency of the board a vast 
aggregate tonnage. The cost will be great — beyond all 
reason — but we shall get the ships. In time the full 
unhappy record will be shown up, but only public dis- 
trust and further delay could result from pausing now 
to reckon up the loss and to apportion the blame. 

The work of the Chamberlain committee has shown 
that the most unsatisfactory department of the govern- 
ment is that presided over by Secretary Baker. It has 
had, of course, the largest task and the most difficult 
one and its delinquencies have been of serious magni- 
tude. Revelations exhibiting the failure to properly 
clothe and equip several of the big camps and to safe- 
guard the health of the men assigned them have been 
shocking. They show that in some respects at least 
we have repeated and, what is worse, are continuing 
to repeat the blunders which marked our preparation 
for the Spanish war. Our experiences will probably 
be not unlike those of our allies ; we shall go on 
a blundering way and make costly mistakes just as Eng- 
land and France did. Our government appears un- 
responsive alike to the pressure of necessity and of 
public feeling. Xot only in the cabinet, but in the mili- 
tary service, there are a number of men who plainly 
ought to be retired. But it seems that the President 
finds difficulty in parting with men to whom he has 
become accustomed; and he is obviously disinclined to 
permit other than men of his own party to participate 
in the conduct of the war. We shall probably go on 
in an incompetent and wasteful way until overwhelming 
pressure of public opinion shall enforce administrative 
reorganization all along the line. 

The congressional investigations have obviously ac- 
complished much. They have in a measure cleared the 
way — though not as thoroughly as might be wished — 
and the work of preparation from now on will go for- 
ward more smoothly and with less lost motion than 
hitherto. The Administration has been forced to adopt 
several reforms, but there still remains a disheartening 
lack of cooperation on the part of the various bureaus 
and divisions of the executive departments. It is doing 
the best it can under its present organization, but it 
lacks the strength and the general support that a 
coalition cabinet made up of the best available talent 
and experience in the country would give it. In time, 
when public opinion shall emphatically assert itself, 
we shall have a more effective administrative organiza- 
tion. The necessity of waiting for it is irritating ; none 
the less there is nothing to do but wait. 

An incidental development of the congressional in- 
vestigation is the universal judgment of military and 
diplomatic experts that the war is to be a long one. If 
our military men who have had observation at close 
range in France have the rights of the situation the war 
is not likely to come to an end imtil this country shall 
participate in it in a very large way. We must, ac- 
cording to expert calculations, put a million or per- 
haps two million equipped and drilled men into the 
field. Our allies have about reached the summit of 
their efforts, and from this time one can scarcely more 
than hold the situation without aggressive and decisive 
movements. There is, of course, the possibility of an 
internal crumbling up in Germany. But predictions to 
this end have thus far failed, and it will not 1 
of prudence to count upon it. The judgmei 
best qualified to judge is that the war can 



34 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 19, 1918. 



by superior force and that we must supply so much of 
that force as may be required to supplement the forces 
of our allies. ■ ^ 

Our Purposes in the War. 

Resolved, That the Senate approves the statement of the 
President as presented by him in his message to Congress on 
January 9, 1918. 

To the end of developing discussion of American 
purpose in the war Mr. Lewis of Illinois has offered 
in the Senate a set of resolutions of which the para- 
graph above quoted is the gist. "I want," said Senator 
Lewis, "to find out where the Senate stands — to bring 
out what differences there may be as to the specific 
terms of President Wilson's declaration of war aims." 

If one were disposed to be critical it might be said 
that the time to develop opinion as to our war aims 
was prior to their declaration by the President. What- 
ever differences there may be must now, since the 
President has spoken in the name of the nation, be 
subordinated to the executive programme. 

Since the foundation of our government its practice 
under a fixed tradition has been to avoid participation in 
European controversies. At many times it has been 
impossible to nullify or suppress our sympathies, but 
we have until now always contrived to preserve an 
attitude of moral as well as legal neutrality. And in 
this course we have been guided not more perhaps by 
contemporary conceptions of discretion than by the 
solemn counsel of Washington to avoid "entangling 
alliances." 

While the positive restrictions of an earlier time are 
today clearly inapplicable to conditions as we find 
them, these restrictions nevertheless are entitled to 
a species of authority over our conduct in so far 
as may be practicable. With the Teutonic menace 
what it is, we may not avoid alliances. We must 
fight with those who are making war against the 
assumptions of an arrogant and world-encompassing 
imperialism. But this does not imply that we must 
make our own the specific contentions of our allies, still 
less that we should presume to adjudicate issues of long 
standing between European countries. With the his- 
toric contentions of these countries we have no proper 
part, and our policies should not go further in respect 
of specific matters than is called for under the obliga- 
tions of our engagements for the pending war. 

In dealing with the issues of the war the purposes of 
America should be writ large — they should relate more 
to broad principles than to particular aims. We are in 
this war in a sense to make the world safe for 
democracy, but in a more definite sense to make the 
world safe for ourselves. Assuredly we are not in a 
position to determine the equities of old quarrels, and 
we ought not to pledge ourselves further than may be 
required for cooperation with our allies under the 
standards of general good faith. 

The uproar in which the world finds itseif today is 
due to the manifest futility of international agreements 
as expressed in formal treaties. The treaty system has 
obviously broken down. Quite as obviously if peace is 
to be attained and made permanent it must rest upon 
something more authoritative than scraps of paper. 
There will be no peace in the world so long as indi- 
vidual nations have the privilege of adjudicating their 
own causes and of providing under their own initiative 
means of enforcing their own contentions. 

This being so — so beyond question — then the states- 
manship of the world, seriously desiring permanent 
peace, should look to the creation of conditions com- 
parable to those under which disputes are determined 
by definite processes within the several countries. It 
requires no great exercise of imagination to conceive 
the existence of an authoritative international court 
empowered to adjudicate causes between nations, sup- 
ported by an international force competent to carry out 
its decrees. An essential condition of such an arrange- 
ment would be abandonment on the part of the several 
countries of their military establishments by trans- 
ference of all armed powers to the international au- 
thority. Under an international system as thus defined 
no country should be permitted to maintain armed 
forces, military or naval, in excess of police require- 
ments. . jiother essential condition would be abandon- 
ment on the part of individual nations of facilities for 
the ma - ." ifacture. of munitions. Everything connected 

i> h at ] essential to the exercise of force should rest 

',:■': v in the hands of the international organization. 

creation of such a system should be achieved under 



a plan of proportionate representation and its financial 
maintenance through a proportionate system of requi- 
sitions. 

The alternatives of an international organization 
charged with adjudicating the differences of nations 
and of maintaining the peace of the world are un- 
happily obvious. No sooner shall peace be achieved 
than nations will begin anew preparations for war. 
Those like our own having no aggressive purposes will 
of necessity be forced to enter the competition under 
the obligations of self-defense. We shall have what 
we have had before, but upon larger and costlier plans, 
the rivalries of military preparation. It will mean for 
this country vast and permanent military and naval 
establishments. And preparation for war is the surest 
possible means of bringing about future contentions 
and future wars. 

This world is not Utopia. It never will be Utopia. 
And since differences and contentions must always 
arise among men and nations, it should be the study 
of statecraft to devise means for peaceful adjudication 
rather than to abandon the world of the future to the 
illogical and ruinous arbitraments of war. 



Lower California. 

Current rumors to the effect that a revolution is im- 
pending in the Mexican state of Lower California may 
or may not be true. In matters of this kind authorita- 
tive denials signify nothing. The situation is singu- 
larly favorable for the throwing over of Mexican 
authority, and Governor Cantu is precisely the man 
who might be expected to carry forward an inde- 
pendent movement. Theoretically Cantu is the head 
of the Lower California state under national authority, 
but as a matter of fact he has been independent of any 
authority other than his own sweet will now for some 
three years or more. Supported by an army of two 
or three thousand men, recruited and paid by himself, 
he has played the role of dictator, practically declining 
subordination or allegiance to each of the several dic- 
tators who in turn have placed themselves at the head 
of the Mexican federation. He has made his own laws, 
collected his own revenues — in brief he has been the 
whole thing. And his right, if both technically and 
morally questionable, has been quite as good as that of 
Huerta, Villa, Carranza, or any other of the many pos- 
sessors of authority in Mexico. It has rested upon 
his own initiative and his own prowess. Cantu has 
not failed at any time to hold his little realm 
well in hand. Order has been maintained; industry 
has been promoted; roads have been built; telephone 
and telegraph lines have been extended ; public buildings, 
including school houses, have been built and maintained. 
That he has looked out for his own interest goes with- 
out saying; but on the whole no other of the several 
divisions of Mexico has been so well sustained during 
the troubles of the past few years as has Lower Cali- 
fornia under the direct and autocratic authority of 
Cantu. 

While Governor Cantu has maintained a policy of 
strict reserve as to his relations with the Federal 
government, it is the common understanding that 
he has defied each national dictator in turn, de- 
clining to contribute to their revenues or to acknowl- 
edge their authority in other than a nominal way. 
He has, we may easily believe, given to each transient 
president ground of offense and has thereby made him- 
self liable to whatever treatment the national authority 
may wish to mete out to him. Probably if he were now 
to put himself in the power of President Carranza he 
would be backed up against an adobe wall and shot 
for treason. In this situation he may prefer to accept 
the chances of a revolutionary movement; and there 
is no reason why such a movement should not succeed. 
Mexico has no navy, and President Carranza would 
not be able, even if he were otherwise in a situation to 
act, to reach Lower California by water with a force 
large enough to overwhelm Cantu. Approach by land 
is out of the question, since it would be necessary to 
march through American territory. Practically Cantu's 
position is a strong one, and there is every reason why 
he should wish to make the most of it. 

Lower California, freed from Mexico by revolution, 
must inevitably fall into the hands of the United States. 
It could not permanently be maintained as an inde- 
pendent country and the government of the United 
States would not consent to its incorporation with or 
its subordination to the authority of any other country. 



The American investment in Lower California is large 
and it is not improbable that there is, or may come 
about, an understanding between Cantu and certain 
Americans who hold large interests in the peninsula. 
By rights the peninsula should belong to this country. It 
includes the southern part of the great Imperial Valley 
and controls the outflow from the Colorado River 
through which the whole Imperial region — American as 
well as Mexican — is watered. The problem of protect- 
ing the Imperial Valley has rested upon the fact that 
the lower regions of the Colorado River are in Mexican 
territory. Long ago the United States would have ac- 
quired the outlet of the Colorado River if it had been 
practicable to buy it, but under Mexican law alienation 
of any part of the national territory has been defined as 
treason. None of the several national dictators, since 
and including Diaz, has been in a position to make 
arrangements looking to American possession of that 
part of Lower California essential to the safeguarding 
of the Imperial Valley against flood. Local revolution 
with ultimate annexation to the United States would 
solve the problem. It would, in fact, appear to be the 
only solution. Cantu has long worked harmoniously 
with the American element in the lower Imperial coun- 
try. This fact and the further fact that his personal 
safety and his individual fortunes are more closely 
bound up with American than with Mexican authority 
may be, and probably is, the inspiration of revolu- 
tionary plans. 

The Government and the Railroad Business. 

If there be one form of activity above every other 
in this country of ours which calls for highly- 
developed ability it is the business of transportation — 
the management of our railroads. From the days of 
Vanderbilt to those of Jim Hill the demand of the 
transportation system has been for vision and brains 
allied with training. The biggest business men of our 
time have been railroad promoters and managers — our 
"magnates," as the phrase goes. Is there any reason to 
hope that, if the government should take over the rail- 
roads and make them a permanent possession, it might 
find for their administration men comparable in calibre 
to the Vanderbilts, the Huntingtons, the Harrimans, 
the Hills? All these men came up through trans- 
portation service. They were products of the condi- 
tions in which they wrought. The government now 
for nearly a century and a half has been a big and 
a steadily growing machine. Through it there has 
been developed some very clever men along lines of 
political and other forms of diplomacy. But we can 
not recall a single instance in which a great man of 
business has been produced by or through the conduct 
of governmental affairs. Purchases on government, 
account have run into the thousands of millions of 
dollars, yet there has never been any system, any 
economy — we came near saying any honesty — in this 
great business. The Postoffice Department has been a 
great machine of business, but it has never yet pro- 
duced a strong man of business. So with a hundred 
other departments and bureaus of government affairs. 
It seems contrary to the genius of political organi- 
zation to develop individual powers of vision, initia- 
tive, and force. At best it yields only men of rou- 
tine efficiency. The railroads if owned by the govern- 
ment would no doubt run along smoothly so long as 
the men reared in the system were retained in it, pro- 
vided they were given a free hand. But it is inevitable 
that the government must in the end conduct the busi- 
ness of transportation precisely as it does every other 
kind of business with which it has to deal. For the 
greater executive posts men friendly to the powers that 
be will be chosen precisely as such are chosen for the 
business of the postoffice and other departments of 
government. In other words, men will be selected for 
railroad jobs upon political considerations. And the 
management of the transportation of the country will 
reflect the calibre of the managers. Government of 
course by its taxing power can carry on the rail- 
road business whether it pays or not; but it will do 
it badly just as it does badly the postoffice business, its 
engineering business, its building business, its pur- 
chasing business, and every other kind of business to 
which it puts its hand. 



Editorial Notes. 

The government has made excellent choice of a di- 
rector of oil production and distribution. Mr. Requa 



January 19, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



35 



has all the qualifications — expert knowledge of condi- 
tions, expert judgment, unwearying industry, and un- 
questioned honesty. 

Mr. Armour "believes that the American public when 
it understands the facts is fair and just." Just so! 
But the American public finds it extremely difficult to 
get at the facts. What with the government ignoring 
the facts, with the politicians disguising the facts, and 
with the newspapers distorting the facts, the public is 
oftener than otherwise groping helplessly in the dark. 



Judge Hylan, mayor of New York, begins his ad- 
ministration, declares the New York Times, "by sur- 
rounding himself with the sorriest lot of Tammany old- 
timers, workers, and dependents.'* Among a long list 
of commissioners named for one post or another the 
Times finds but one man — Commssioner Hulburt, in 
charge of docks and ferries — who has the first quali- 
fication for the business committed to his care. All 
the other appointments are characterized as "shocking." 



There is a growing demand in the country that 
something positive be done in the matter of the Ger- 
man spy menace. It is not enough that traitors should 
be "reprimanded" and otherwise treated in the spirit 
of charity and mercy. It would help mightily if every 
man discovered in traitorous courses were placed face 
to a stone wall and given short shrift. No other policy 
will put an end to activities of an incendiary kind 
more or less rife in all parts of the country — even in 
our military and naval organizations. 



THE THEATRE OF WAR. 



It is reported that the Carranza government is 
planning a deal with Japan by which the latter coun- 
try is to acquire possession if not ownership of 
Clipperton Island off the Pacific entrance to the 
Isthmian Canal. A Mexican commision now on the 
way to Japan is presumed by current gossip to be au- 
thorized to effect this arrangement. That the United 
States will permit this or any similar plan to be effected 
is unthinkable. While our relations with Japan are 
entirely friendly, we could not under our Monroe Doc- 
trine, or in respect of common-sense considerations, 
permit that country to establish an outpost where in 
a military sense it would command a main approach 
to the canal. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



"It Breathes a Fine Spirit"! 

San Francisco, January 14, 1918. 
To the Editor — Sir: On a train coming home from the 
East I fell in with a gentleman who had with him a copy 
of a letter from a young undergraduate who left college and 
went to France in the hope of enlisting with the American 
Expeditionary Forces. He was refused enlistment for physical 
reason and cabled his family that he was returning home. 
However, he made a second application and was accepted. 
The letter herewith was written his mother. It breathes a 
fine spirit and I think it is worth giving to the public. 

E. J. McC. 

Paris, October 9, 1917. 

Dearest Mother: I do hope that I didn't raise a lot of 
false hopes by that first cable — only to knock them down 
with the second. Truly, I have felt very badly about it, for 
I know how you miss me and want me back home again — ■ 
and to be told that I was coming back — and then to learn a 
week later that it had been made possible for me to stay — 
well, it must have been a bit of a disappointment. But you 
have been so wonderful about having me here that I know 
you will be a bit happy and content — even a bit proud — to 
know that the opportunity has come for me to stay and help 
in a very small way toward beating the Eoche. You will 
perhaps never come to know the entire significance of that 
WO rd — that name — for you will probably never see what he 
has done to France. But after experiencing what I have, 
it seems to me that the supreme purpose of every man's life 
now should be toward that end — toward beating the Boche. 
Popse (and you, too, of course) are doing just as much in 
letting me come over here unhindered as I am by being here. 
You must realize, mother, that the cause for which this war 
is being fought is absolutely the biggest thing that ever, ever 
came to this world. When you come to believe in that, firmly 
and absolutely unwaveringly, you can face anything that might 
happen to me with a feeling near to joy. I have a feeling 
that I am going to come out of it all right, but if I shouldn't, 
if you will only believe in what the Allies are fighting for, 
you could face the world with a smile, no matter what came 
to me. Why is it that we all cling to life so, anyway? I feel 
that a life given over here is worth a hundred years of ordi- 
nary living. Just for this: that when this war is over the 
world will have been made safe for freedom for all time. A 
place where Elizabeth and Virginia and Mary can live and 
love without ever knowing what it means to dread the 
Boche. . . . 

Oh, dear — I am getting away over my head now and I 
knew perfectly well that I would before I started. On read- 
ing over what I have writen, it is the most perfectly unintel- 
ligible mess I ever hope to wade through. But you are 
Mother, and of course you know just what I am trying to 
say. . . . 

Gears are now being made of ordinary cotton which 
will outwear those made from the finest steel. 



We are beginning to look with some weariness on the 
peace proceedings at Brest-Litovsk as it becomes gradually 
more evident that they are not likely to have any immediate 
or vital bearing on the military situation. The first panicky 
conviction that Germany was about to transfer her entire 
eastern army to the western front has given way to a realiza- 
tion that she can do nothing of the sort until a valid peace 
with Russia, and with the whole of Russia, shall have become 
an accomplished fact. A peace with Russia on an honest 
basis of no annexations and no indemnities will in no way 
accomplish the plans of the German representatives, and any 
other sort of peace will in no way satisfy the plans of the 
Bolsheviki. Germany has very little to gain by the attain- 
ment of such a peace as this. She may be said to have had 
it ever since the collapse of the Russian armies. Russia 
ceased to be a fighting force at the moment when Kerensky 
began to preach democracy and the millennium to the Russian 
forces in the field. Germany has had nothing to fear from 
the military power of Russia since the revolution. Her in- 
terest in a peace treaty that is no more than a peace treaty 
must necessarily be of a very tepid kind. 



There is no reason to speculate as to what Germany actually 
does want, since she avowed it with an almost incredible 
cynicism at the first of the peace parleys. She wants Poland 
and Lithuania and Courland, and it was this, and nothing but 
this, that brought her to the peace meeting. Being the victor 
she demands the spoils. She cares little for a peace treaty 
that would in very truth be a mere scrap of paper, since she 
has a virtual peace already, and she cares still less for a 
peace treaty based upon her own renunciation of her terri- 
torial ambitions and implying no particular renunciation on 
the part of Russia. Certainly she did not go to Brest-Litovsk 
in order to discuss international pieties and democratic senti- 
ments with the Bolsheviki, and Von Kuhlmann lost no time 
in making this clear to the conference. He was doubtless 
surprised to find that the Bolsheviki were wholly unmoved 
by his hectorings. They replied with a hot defiance, and 
went back to Petrograd. At the next meeting of the con- 
ference the Bolsheviki were not present, and the German 
delegates returned to Berlin, there to encounter the reproaches 
of the now united Socialists, and the dangerous disappoint- 
ment of the public, who believed that a peace with Russia 
would be a prelude to a general and speedy victory. The 
conference with the Bolsheviki has now been resumed, but 
at the request of the Germans and not of the Russians — a 
fact of some significance. Trotzky has withdrawn his de- 
mand for a change of venue to Stockholm, but he seems not 
to have weakened in his determination to surrender no Rus- 
sian territory. We have also an utterance by Lenine threat- 
ening to reopen the war unless Germany shall honestly abide 
by the basic understanding of no annexations, and this of 
course is the one thing that Germany can not do. Possibly 
Trotzky and Lenine have a wholesome realization that an 
agreement by them to transfer Poland and Lithuania and 
Courland to Germany would have the value of the paper upon 
which it was written, and no more. Indeed it would be a call 
to arms of the peoples concerned. They may also be aware 
that their shadowy claims to the leadership of the Russian 
people would hardly stand such a strain as this. 



Although these meetings can have but little immediate effect 
on the military situation they may have a great effect on the 
political situation and on the end of the war. If Germany 
were able to bully the Bolsheviki into the surrender of Poland 
and Lithuania it would place her in the most favorable posi- 
tion to make peace with the western allies and also to satisfy 
her own people that they had not fought their war in vain. 
She would then be able to say to her remaining enemies : 
"Gentlemen, I feared that it would be necessary to present 
you with a heavy bill of costs and to collect payment in the 
shape of annexations. But the course of events is such that 
the whole of the bill has now been paid by Russia, and there 
is therefore no reason why we should not reach an under- 
standing on conditions unexpectedly favorable to yourselves, 
and reflecting so creditably on my generosity." To her own 
people she would be able to display an enormous extension 
of eastern territory as ample compensation not only for the 
cost of the war, but also for her concessions in the west. 
There would be some kind of plausibility for her claim of 
victory. With Poland and Lithuania in the bank, so to speak, 
she would hasten to accede to the demands of the western 
allies in all of their main essentials, and she would do it with 
the magnanimity appropriate from the victors to the van- 
quished. She would argue that there could be no reason why 
the western allies should protect Russia from the results of 
her own treason or veto a territorial cession to which Russia 
herself had agreed, and that could easily be justified by some 
sort of bogus plebiscite. At the moment this scheme seems 
to have been thwarted by the sturdy attitude of the Bolshe- 
viki, who are doubtless aware that a surrender of Russian 
territory would be their own death warrant. Whether the 
Bolsheviki will be able to maintain their attitude remains to 
be seen. Germany is actually in possession of the territory 
that she claims, and there is no possible way by which the 
Russians can eject her. All that they can do is nominally 
to continue the war, and to harass the invader by guerilla 
operations. But there can be no doubt that if the Bolsheviki 
had proved themselves to be acquiescent, Germany would have 
snatched eagerly at the bird in the hand, and would have 
hastened to renounce all the birds that are still in the bush. 
She would have hastened to receipt the bill, and to declare 
that all her claims were satisfied. It was in the hope of 



doing this that she went to Brest-Litovsk. It is in the hope 
of doing so that she remains there. 



Germany's claims that Poland and Lithuania had already 
expressed a desire to be annexed, and that she was therefore 
fulfilling the stipulation for the self-definition of nationalities, 
was, of course, a piece of pure bluff, and Von Kuhlmann must 
have had his tongue in his cheek when he made it. There 
has been no expression of desire from Poland and Lithuania, 
nor anything that remotely resembles one. Poland has been 
badly treated by Russia. There can be no dispute about that. 
But Poland has none the less always preferred the Russian 
whip to the German scorpion. She is well aware that Russian 
injustice has always been instigated by Germany, who has 
found it much to her advantage to keep Poland in a per- 
petual state of revolt. The Pole is a Slav, and his quarrel 
with Russia is therefore something of a family feud, whereas 
his hatred of the German is a blood hostility. The attitude 
of Poland was well expressed in the Gazeta Gdanska of 
Dantzig, which published the following statement on No- 
vember 24, 1906: "The Prussian and the Russian. — If one 
asks a Pole whether he would rather live under German or 
under Russian rule, his reply will be, 'I would a hundred times 
rather have to do with Russians than with Germans, and the 
Prussians are the worst of Germans.' Many Poles will 
scarcely be able to tell why they hate the Prussians. Many 
will find their preference illogical. Still it is there. From 
the fullness of the heart speaketh the mouth. After all, the 
worst Russian is a better fellow than the very best German. 
That feeling lies in our blood. The Russian is our Slavonic 
brother, and in his heart of hearts every Pole is glad if his 
brother is prospering, and when he can tell the world, 'There 
you see our common Slavonic blood.' The more we hate the 
Prussians, the more we love the Russians." 



With such considerations in mind we can form our own 
opinion as to the volume of troops that Germany has trans- 
ferred to her western lines. Russia is in chaos. The Bolshe- 
viki are acting as though it were they that held the whip 
hand, and not Germany, and it may be admitted that there 
are few such formidable forces as a reckless desperation. 
Over a third part of the Russian people have repudiated the 
Bolsheviki, and have established independent republics. The 
Russian volcano may break forth into eruption at any mo- 
ment. Even if Poland and Lithuania were ceded it would be 
even more necessary than now to hold them with a strong 
force. Under such circumstances it seems incredible that 
Germany should meditate any formidable transfer of troops, 
and indeed the consensus of expert opinion seems to be that 
she has not done so. Trotzky — a by no means infallible guide, 
it is true — says that Germany can do no more than move her 
men "one by one," and that they jump from the train win- 
dows in order to escape the horrors of the western field. 
Trotzky also confirms the story, originating elsewhere, that 
twenty thousand Germans troops are in revolt in the east and 
are still holding out against the half-hearted efforts of their 
fellows to reduce them. The Manchester Guardian, a par- 
ticularly well-informed newspaper, first believed that Germany 
would be able to transfer 3,000,000 men, but quickly reduced 
this estimate to a doubtful 1,500,000. Colonel Repington, the 
military expert of the London Times, gives the maximum, 
number transferable in the event of an actual peace as 
750,000, but he believes that only 120,000 have actually been 
sent — no more than a corporal's guard under modern war 
conditions. French authorities place the number actually 
sent as only about 75,000. And, finally, we have the opinion 
of Mr. Venizelos, who was recently in London, to the effect 
that Germany will probably strike at the left flank of the 
Saloniki army, if she strikes at all, and so clear the Italians 
out of Valona and drive through Albania to the Adriatic. 
The advantages to Germany of such a success have already 
been pointed out. It would bring Greece under German domi- 
nation, and it would place the eastern Mediterranean under 
control of the German submarines, to the serious embarrass- 
ment of the British operations to the north of Jerusalem. 
With so obvious an employment for whatever German troops 
may be available, it is inexplicable that a German offensive 
in the west should be so confidently expected, and it is much 
to be hoped that German efforts to divert attention from their 
real aims will not be successful. There is not the least proba- 
bility that Germany could attain to a numerical superiority on 
the western front, and to conduct an offensive against estab- 
lished fortifications she must not only be numerically su- 
perior, but overwhelmingly so, and even then her losses would 
be so frightful as to make anything like a real victory out 
of the question. As has been said before, Germany will strike 
at any point that seems to be vulnerable on the western 
lines. That goes without saying. It is a commonplace of 
war. But she is not likely to bring any real offensive on 
the western front. Just now she is thinking more of peace 
than of war. Her supreme hope is to snatch something from 
Russia that shall enable her to blow victorious trumpets, and 
to declare that her aims have been achieved. 



It is evident that the Russian fiasco has induced an attack 
of nerves in a good many of us, and this has been intensified 
by reckless and uninformed estimates of the present size of 
the German army. Indeed our credulities in this respect some- 
times approach the verge of superstition. This is partly due 
to the well-meant efforts of authorities to combat a certain 
apathy that is always displayed by a nation that is at war 
but that is so far without a casualty list. It is partly due to 
the German myth, which is equally effective in in 
German soldier with an intelligence and an unc 
valor which he has never yet displayed, and in c 



36 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 19, 1918. 



German nation with a quite miraculous power ta create sol- 
diers that it can not possibly possess by normal means. Mr. 
Gerard's estimate of 11,000,000 Germans now in the field is 
still within our memory, but he does not explain to us how 
a nation with a population of only 68,000.000, about half of 
whom are females, and after three years of devastating war, 
can conceivably have 11,000.000 men under arms. It is to be 
presumed that the ordinary vitality ratios apply in Germany 
as elsewhere, and a consideration of these gives more reliable 
results, than any number of alarmist guesses. 

Mr. G. Stanley Sedgwick, writing in the New York Times, 
analyzes the figures for us, alike conclusively and unanswer- 
ably. He tells us that when the war began there could not 
have been 11,000,000 men between the ages of eighteen and 
fifty in the whole German empire, and this, of course, is evi- 
dent from the study of ordinary population statistics. Assum- 
ing that every man between the ages of eighteen and fifty was 
conscripted and that every man was found to be fit, there 
would then have been about 9,000,000 men available for the 
army. But at least a million of these men, including the 
very young and the very old, would be unfit. Another 2,000,- 
000 would be indispensable for the work of the country, and 
this would leave about 6.000,000 men available for actual 
fighting at the beginning of the war. Allowing for subsequent 
drafts on the one hand, and for losses on the other, Mr. 
Sedgwick states it as "a fact that on June 1st of this year 
the Germans had in the army 5,500,000 men. Of these about 
1,250,000 men were on the Russian front, 2,000,000 men in 
France, perhaps 150,000 in Turkey and the Balkans, and 
the remainder on the communications and at the depots." 
Mr. Sedgwick offers to furnish proofs of these figures, but 
their substantial accuracy seems inescapable. Given the 
factors of German population at the beginning of the waf, 
and German losses since the beginning of the war, and we 
have the basis for a calculation that must be approximately 
accurate. Germany has now called up the classes of 1918, 
1919, and 1920, the last class including boys of seventeen and 
eighteen, who can be worth very little as soldiers. France 
has just called up her class of 1918, and she still has her 
classes of 1919 and 1920 in reserve. She is therefore in this 
respect better off than Germany, and yet we still hear the 
German -in spired cry that France is "bled white." Actually 
it is Germany that is bled white. France has 2,000,000 men 
on the western front, and therefore her army is equal to 
that of the Germans without counting the British at all. If 
the Germans were to bring another million men — which cer- 
tainly they can not do — they would still be numerically in- 
ferior, and this for a task that would be hopeless without a 
vast preponderance. Mr. Sedgwick concludes his letter with 
a summary that is optimistic, but that is absolutely justified. 
Speaking of the absurd prediction that the war must go on 
for another five years, he says: "I venture the simple state- 
ment that Germany at the end of two years, and at the present 
rate of casualties, would not have 1,000,000 men left in the 
field. On June 1st of this year the German losses had been 
4,500,000, of whom over 2,000,000 were actually killed, and 
over 200,000 prisoners. Since that date they have been even 
proportionately larger. . . . How well I remember the shud- 
dering predictions in 1915, when the Germans outnumbered 
the English two to one, and five to one in guns, that they 
would capture Calais and bombard Dover. Thrice have these 
desolating blows been threatened, and one attempt with de- 
vastating losses to Germany at Verdun. And now they are 
to bring 1,000,000 from Russia and crush us utterly, they 
having now the advantage in numbers and (fateful word) 
initiative. They have neither the numbers nor the initiative." 
San Francisco, January 16, 191$. Sidney Coryn. 



Trading is not a day-to-day affair on the Tokyo Ex- 
change, as on the American exchanges, but is more 
like that in London, where settlements are made fort- 
nightly. In Tokyo trades are divided into three classes 
"bargains for cash," "bargains for a fixed time," and 
"bargains for a limited time." Bargains for cash are 
transacted in a part of the exchange building set aside 
for that purpose, and are made orally, by written mem- 
oranda, or by finger signs, as in America. A scene 
on this side of the market is very much the same as 
those which are witnessed daily among the curb 
brokers on Broad Street, Xew York. 

Japanese native-made paper is not surpassed any- 
where in this world; it is used for the finest books. 
The paper cloth of Atami, from which durable clothing 
is made, indicates not only the strength, but the variety 
of uses to which the native paper of Japan can be put. 
None of the Atami paper cloth is sent out of the coun- 
try, owing to the large home consumption. Xo attempt 
has been made, except in China, to develop this purely 
peasant household industry out of the narrow rut in 
which it exists and to place it upon a modern industrial 
basis. 



In discussing the necessity of developing substitutes 
for coal to meet the world's fuel requirements, Alex- 
ander Graham Bell recently remarked that the world 
will probably depend upon alcohol more and more as 
time gO',s on, and a great field of usefulness is opening 
up for the engineer who will modify our machinery to 
enable ilcohol to be used as the source of power. 

m» m 

'he increased area in England and Wales this year 
ed to the cultivation of grain and potatoes over 
: last year amounts to 347,000 acres. 



OLD FAVORITES. 



A Serenade. 
Ah ! County Guy, the hour is nigh, 

The sun has left the lea, 
The orange-flower perfumes the bower. 

The breeze is on the sea. 
The lark, his lay who thrill'd all day. 

Sits hush'd his partner nigh : 
Breeze, bird, and flower confess the hour. 

But where is County Guy ? 

The Tillage maid steals through the shade 

Her shepherd's suit to hear ; 
To Beauty shy, by lattice high, 

Sings high-born Cavalier. 
The star of Love, all stars above 

Xow reigns o'er earth and sky. 
And high and low the influence know — 

But where is County Guy ? — Sir Walter Scott. 



Love Among the Ruins. 
Where the quiet-colour'd end of evening smiles 

Miles and miles 
On the solitary pastures where our sheep 

Half-asleep 
Tinkle homeward thro' the twilight, stray or stop 

As they crop — 

Was the site once of a city great and gay, 

(.So they say i 
Of our country's very capital, its prince 

Ages since 
Held his court in, gather'd councils, wielding far 

Peace or war. 

Now — the country does not even boast a tree, 

As you see 
To distinguish slopes of verdure, certain rills 

From the hills 
Intersect and give a name to. (else they run 

Into one) 

Where the domed and daring palace shot its spires 

Up like fires 
O'er the hundred-gated circuit of a wall 

Bounding all, 
Made of marble, men might march on nor be prest. 

Twelve abreast. 

And such plenty and perfection, see, of grass 

Never was ! 
Such a carpet as, this summertime, o'erspreads 

And embeds 
Every vestige of the city, guess'd alone, 

Stock or stone — 

Where a multitude of men breathed joy and woe 

Long ago ; 
Lust of glory prick'd their hearts up, dread of shame 

Struck them tame ; 
And that glory and that shame alike, the gold 

Bought and sold. 

Now, — the single little turret that remains 

On the plains, 
By the caper overrooted, by the gourd 

Overscored, 
While the patching houseleek's head of blossom winks 

Through the chinks — 

Marks the basement whence a tower in ancient time 

Sprang sublime, 
And a burning ring, all round, the chariots traced 

As they raced, 
And the monarch and his minions and his dames 

View'd the games. 

And I know, while thus the quiet-colour'd eve 

Smiles to leave 
To their folding, all our many-tinkling fleece 

In such peace, 
And the slopes and rills in undistinguish'd gray 

Melt away — 

That a girl with eager eyes and yellow hair 

Waits me there 
In the turret whence the charioteers caught soul 

For the goal. 
When the king look'd, where she looks now, breathless, 
dumb 

Till I come. 

But he look'd upon the city, every' side, 

Far and wide, 
All the mountains topp'd with temples, all the glades' 

Colonnades, 
All the causeys, bridges, aqueducts, — and then, 

All the men ! 

When I do come, she will speak not, she will stand, 

Either hand 
On my shoulder, give her eyes the first embrace 

Of my face, 
Ere we rush, ere we extinguish sight and speech 

Each on each. 

In one year they sent a million fighters forth 

South and North, 
And they built their gods a brazen pillar high 

As the sky. 
Yet reserved a thousand chariots in full force — 

Gold, of course. 

O, heart ! oh, blood that freezes, blood that burns ! 

Earth's returns 
For whole centuries of folly, noise and sin ! 

Shut them in. 
With their triumphs and their glories and the rest. 

Love is best. — Robert Browning. 



Fashions were no less eccentric four centuries ago 
than they are today. "Before the streets of Venice 
were paved (in the thirteenth century)," says William 
Boulting in "Woman in Italy." "ladies went through the 
mud and filth on pattens. The custom was retained, 
and in spite of sumtuary laws the patten became 
heightened until women of rank stood on false feet 
half a yard high in the sixteenth century. They were 
unable to walk without the support of one or two 
gentlemen or servants." 



INDIVIDUALITIES. 



A Spanish novelist who extols his native land in 
both her heroic and her aesthetic mood recently arrived 
in Xew York on a lecture tour. His name is Eduardo 
Zamacois; his mission is to strengthen the intellectual 
and spiritual bond existing between the young Americas 
and the mother country. 

King Nicholas of Montenegro is a dramatist. One 
of his best-known plays is "The Empress of the Bal- 
kans." A correspondent who recently sought permis- 
sion to translate the work for the English stage said 
of it: "So far as I could judge of it, the royal drama 
lacked imaginative charm. It had been written in fair 
verse under the influence of Schiller. It had no 
'punch.' But with the help of Henry Blossom or Guy 
Bolton it might have proved the germ of a good mu- 
sical comedy." 

Captain Gerard de Ganay, who is one of the heads 
of the great Creusot munition works, which bears the 
same relation to France that Krupps does to Germany, 
is half American, his mother having been a Philadel- 
phian. His family is one of the oldest of the French 
nobility. He is the son of a marquis and is himself 
a count. And he is one of the big business men of 
France. To add to his distinction, he is a perfect figure 
of a soldier, standing straight as an Indian 6 feet 2]/i 
inches, and weighing 180 pounds. 

Governor Marcus H. Holcomb of Connecticut re- 
cently observed his seventy-third birthday. The gov- 
ernor was superannuated as a jurist three years ago, 
and retired from the Supreme Court bench, but the 
Hartford Courant finds no trace of senile weakness in 
him : "There has not been a more active, energetic 
force for the public welfare of the state than he. He 
has just got his gait. He has led in preparation for 
the great crisis in which we are involved, and other 
statesmen have followed his lead." 

Rear-Admiral Frederic R. Harris, who resigned al- 
most as soon as he was appointed general manager of 
the Emergency Fleet Corporation, is the officer who 
solved the quicksand puzzle at the Brooklyn Navy Yard 
in 1910 and made possible the construction of the most 
important drydock in that great naval plant. He em- 
ployed an entirely new method of dock construction 
and to this day is remembered as "the man who con- 
quered the quicksands." Admiral Harris is not yet 
forty-one years of age, and is' the youngest officer of 
his rank in the sen-ice. 

M. Jeanneney, who appears likely to play an impor- 
tant public part in France as under-secretary of war. 
has been a member of Parliament since 1902, and was 
born at Besanqon in 1864. He is a personal friend of 
M. Clemenceau, but he has declined hitherto to accept 
any portfolio in spite of the reputation which he quickly 
acquired in the senate. He becomes the close collabo- 
rator of M. Clemenceau in the administration of the 
ministry of war, and M. Clemenceau intends to em- 
phasize the importance of the under-secretaryship. 
which he has entrusted to M. Jeanneney by giving him 
a seat in the council of ministers. 

Professor George Graftor Wilson of Harvard Uni- 
versity, a leading authority on international law, which 
subject he teaches at Harvard, is the adviser of the 
United States Navy officials stationed at the Charles- 
ton vard, when they become involved in any complexi- 
ties that arise from their varied present-day duties, 
caused by the war. Professor Wilson's first war duty- 
was back in the autumn of 1914, when he chanced to 
be in Holland and at once enlisted for service with the 
United States minister, Dr. Van Dyke, aiding the latter 
and the staff during the trying days when Holland was 
the crossroads for the stream of war refugees. 

William Wallace Atterbury, who has been made 
director-general of American military railways in 
France, began his education in railroad management 
at the bottom of the ladder. Upon receiving his degree 
of bachelor of philosophy in 1886 from Sheffield Scien- 
tific School, Yale, he entered the employ of the Penn- 
svlvania Railroad as an apprentice in the Altoona 
shops. With his technical education and his close ap- 
plication to the job of learning railroading, his promo- 
tion was rapid, and in 1896 he was made general super- 
intendent of motive power of the Pennsylvania lines 
east of Pittsburg. In 1903 he became general manager, 
and in 1909 he was promoted to the vice-presidency. 

Will Crooks, the British labor kjader and member of 
Parliament, was born in a one-roomed house in East 
London and was familiar from infancy with poverty 
and hunger. For a short spell he was in a workhouse 
school. When eleven he started a life of hard toil. 
When his fellow-workmen, understanding his grasp of 
public affairs and his sound common sense, elected him 
as their leader, he used his power for the benefit of the 
poor. As London county councillor, guardian of the 
poor, mayor of Poplar, Member of Parliament, mem- 
ber of the king's privy council, his life work has been 
consistent. Today as the Right Honorable W. Crooks, 
P. C, M. P.. he remains unspoiled by success. He lives 
among his own people in a little two-storied house in 
Poplar. His home is a centre to which those in dis- 
tress flock all day long. 



January 19, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



37 



LORD MORLEY'S RECOLLECTIONS. 



Personal Reminiscences and Comments of a Great Leader 
of English Liberalism. 



It will be easily conceded that Viscount Morley has 
given us the book of the year. Those who recall with 
pleasure and satisfaction the brilliant critical writings 
of John Morley of years ago, and who felt that litera- 
ture had suffered a great loss when their author forsook 
his earlier vocation to devote himself to politics, must 
acknowledge a sense of gratification that after years of 
statesmanship of a high order and with ripened experi- 
ence of men and affairs, this stalwart Liberal has in 
the fullness of years taken up his pen once more to 
recount for us the story of his contact with the intel- 
lectual leaders of the nineteenth century and his esti- 
mates of men and movements. 

Through the pages of the two volumes of the 
"Recollections" it is possible to glean much of John 
Morley, the man, but his work is not autobiographical. 
With modesty he makes excuses for the use of the 
first personal pronoun lest it savor of egotism; but 
these apologies are gratuitous, for not only has he made 
less reference to his own part in great events than we 
hoped for. but he has devoted himself largely to the 
portrayal of other writers and statesmen in the light 
of intimate personal acquaintance. These estimates are 
in a sense unique, for they are not only written in a 
kindly and sympathetic spirit, but at the same time they 
display keen insight, broad-mindedness, and the critical 
instinct. And what a marvelous galaxy of brilliant 
minds composed the successive circles that formed the 
intimates of the author: picture him as a young man 
enjoying the friendship of Carlyle and Mill, and later 
of Gladstone, of Chamberlain, of George Meredith, and 
of Balfour. 

Each of the great men of the period must have had 
his influence on the well-poised but open-minded young 
Oxonian who had come to London to make his literary 
fortune, and he came into touch with all who were 
worth while. His recollections of these men show no 
mere awe at their position and achievements, but the 
thoughtful and kindly criticism of one who was doing 
his own thinking. In this connection it is pertinent to 
note his relations with Herbert Spencer, now relegated 
to the dust-covered shelves, but then the outstanding 
figure in English constructive philosophical thought 
and the protagonist of the agnostics : 

Inexorable and uncompromising in bis ideas, he was in life, 
conduct, and duty the most single-minded and unselfish of 
men. He had a pedantic turn, his nerves were sensitive, 
and he was not one of the large minds in which small outside 
things have no place. He could be impatient over the 
small mischances of club life, and he was amusingly ready 
to seek an instant classification of them as due to gross de- 
fects of integration, coordination, or whatever else the attend- 
ant molecular shortcoming might be. He had a passion for 
industrialism against militarism, for non-aggression and non- 
intervention, and for abolition of ecclesiastical privilege. Ar- 
gument with him on these high matters was not easy ; in my 
own case it was happily needless, for we agreed. The only 
time that I recall anything like a monologue at Mill's table, 
Spencer was the involuntary- hero. The host said to him at 
dessert that Grote, who was present, would like to hear him 
explain one or more of his views about the equilibration of 
molecules in some relation or other. Spencer, after an in- 
stant of good-natured hesitation, complied with unbroken 
fluency for a quarter of an hour or more. Grote followed 
every word intently, and in the end expressed himself as well 
satisfied. Mill, as we moved oft into the drawing-room, de- 
clared to me his admiration of a wonderful piece of lucid 
exposition. Fawcett in a whisper asked me if I understood 
a word of it, for he did not. Luckily I had no time to 
answer. Away from the contention of the moment, Spencer 
was as kindly and genial as man could be. He was fond of 
table games, in sport he was a good fisherman, and he had 
the blessed gift of hearty laughter. 

It is to be feared that George Meredith is not much 
read by the younger generation today. He moves too 
slowly for them and they have little patience for his 
style and delineation of character. But he remains a 
big figure in nineteenth-century literature nevertheless, 
and was one of Morley's most delightful and appre- 
ciated friends. Of him he writes: 

He wrestled manfully with the necessity- for daily travail, 
"and for a public that does not care for my work." His 
persistence in this sore toil was heroic. "The quality of my 
work does not degenerate; I can say no more. Only in my 
branch of the profession of letters, the better the work the 
worse the pay, and also, it seems, the lower the esteem in 
which one is held for it." It was my good fortune, in days 
when publishers gave him little welcome, to be of use to him 
by printing two, or was it three, of his novels in the periodical 
of which I then had charge. Of one of these George Eliot 
asked me whether we found that it pleased our readers. I 
answered as best I could. She said she had only discovered 
one admirer of it. a very eminent man as it happened, and 
even him she had convicted of missing two whole numbers 
without noticing a gap. 

Without doubt the most striking and valuable critical 
evaluation in the "Recollections'* is that of his friend, 
John Stuart Mill. It forms a charming essay in itself 
and is difficult to quote from, though one or two char- 
acterizations throw much light on the character of the 
man who exercised such a large influence over the eco- 
nomic and social thought of England and America : 

What Mill cared for in his own plans of work was that the 
aim should at least be definite and in season. He told me 
that in his younger days, when he was inclined to fall into 
low spirits, he turned to Condorcet's life of Turgot ; it in- 
fallibly restored his possession ot himself. He was, indeed, 
of the same rare type. The keyword of Turgot has been de- 
scribed as Justice rather than Pity. In one sense the same 
. is true of Mill, but perhaps Pity, especially in his later years, 



was a more active spring of his passion for justice than even 
the love of well-ordered government that consumed "the god- 
like Turgot." They shared aversion to sect and the spirit of 
sect, though they founded them'selves on the necessity of 
those ordered opinions and systems of opinion that are very- 
apt to harden into sect, as Comte has shown, arid so, for that 
matter, had the very different spirituality of George Fox 
shown it. 

His sense of the miseries and wrongs of "the greatest num- 
ber" was the mainspring of the resolute beneficence of thought 
and purpose that really made his very life and daily being. 
I am sure that he never drew back from his own words, that 
the condition of numbers in civilized Europe, even in Eng- 
land and France, is more wretched than that of most tribes of 
savages who are known to us. 

Lord Morley also gives us an interesting little bit of 
side-light on Mill's remarkable essay, ''The Subjection 
of Women" : 

Literary grandeur matters little where the kernel is a re- 
statement and new reinforcement of tolerance, discussion with- 
out restriction, the free life of the individual, so long as he 
does not injure other people, fair play for social experiment. 
On all this nothing could be more bracing than Mill's handling 
of his lofty case, and the idealism of it, the enthusiasm, sus- 
tained as it was for page after page, very nearly approached 
the electrifying region of the poetic, in the eyes of ardent 
men and women in our age. Much was. no doubt, due to the 
influence of the remarkable woman to whom he paid such 
extraordinary homage. . . . Almost the only one among my 
friends who knew Mrs. Mill was Carlyle, and when I named 
her to him, he said little more than this : "She was a woman 
full of unwise intellect, always asking questions about all sorts 
of puzzles — why, how, what for, what makes the exact differ- 
ence — and Mill was good at answers." 

In another place Lord Morley voices a charming ap- 
preciation of his friend Matthew Arnold as a poet. 
After a discussion of his other contributions to the 
literature of secular and religious thought, he writes : 

In the same spirit George Eliot told a friend that of all 
modern poetry Arnold's was that which kept constantly grow- 
ing upon her. One of the slender volumes of his verse has 
made a cherished companion of mine on many a journey. 
The book of selection takes little compass, and in it anybody 
who is for a short interval a traveler away from the hurry 
of the world's rough business may well find beauty to refresh, 
wisdom to quiet, associations to remind and collect. As it 
happens, I find written on the fly-leaf of this small treasure 
some words I had inscribed at what was to prove a memorable 
date: Read with much fortifying quietude of mind on the 
glorious forenoon of our departure, on the matchless terrace at 
Beatenburg, June 12, 1914. In a few weeks, hardly more 
than a few days, the blunders and precipitancy of folly-smitten 
rulers let loose a fierce hurricane of destruction and hate 
that swept quietude out of the world for a long span of time 
to come. 

From comment on men of letters of his time Lord 
Morley turns to his political associations. The chapter 
which he devotes to a sketch of Joseph Chamberlain is 
one of the most brilliant of the book and tells the story 
of the growth of the strong friendship between the two 
men that was to cause surprise by reason of its seeming 
incongruity. Here began also his study of the Irish 
question, upon which he brought to bear his splendidly 
tolerant liberalism in an atmosphere narrow and 
bigoted. A little later he went into politics himself and 
won a seat in Parliament, and thenceforth public life 
was to claim a large share of his energies and activities. 
With Chamberlain he necessarily came to differ on 
many vital issues — imperialism, the Irish question, and 
many others, but their friendship remained. His state- 
ment of this is touching: 

In after years Mr. Gladstone found a standing puzzle in the 
long intimacy between Chamberlain and me. "You are not 
only different," he used to say; "man and wife are often 
different, but you two are the very' contradiction." Of these 
contradictions I must obviously be the last person in the 
world to attempt a catalogue. Looking back I only know 
that men vastly my superiors, alike in letters and the field of 
politics, have held me in kind regard and cared for my friend- 
ship. I do not try to analyze or explain. Such golden boons 
in life are self-sufficing. The general terms of character are 
apt to have but a lifeless air. Differences as sharp as ever 
divided public men by and by arose between us two on 
burning questions of our time. Breaks could not be avoided : 
they were sharp, but they left no scars. Fraternal memories 
readily awoke. As his end drew near, we sent one another 
heartfelt words of affectionate farewell. Meanwhile for thir- 
teen strenuous years we lived the life of brothers. 

After years of yeoman service in Parliament, earning 
the regard and respect even of his political opponents. 
Lord Morley went into the government as Secretary of 
State for Ireland, and had an opportunity to apply to 
the solution of the knotty problems the principles he 
had earlier enunciated ; not an untrammeled oppor- 
tunity, however, for partisanship ran high and the dif- 
ficulties were well-nigh insurmountable. An entry in 
his diary in 1895 concerning Goldwin Smith indicates 
the feeling aroused in him by the Tory forces that 
would not view the Irish question in a spirit of justice 
and conciliation: 

Read Goldwin Smith on the Irish question in a newly- 
published volume of political essays. A narrow piece of 
work; full of hard, bitter feeling, obscuring and manacling 
his judgment. Canning said not so long before he became 
head of the government that the Catholic question "must 
win, not force its way." Who was the more of a states- 
man, Canning or O'Connell ? Goldwin very unhistoric in 
spirit, and, what is more rare in him, essentially unpolitical ; 
I mean he shows no perception of necessities and practical 
limitations; makes no allowances for inveterate antecedent 
circumstance; is conscious of no responsibility for showing a 
way out of difficulties : treats the problem as neither capable 
of solution nor requiring solution. He hints that I am for 
Home Rule because I am ignorant of Ireland. His own per- 
sonal knowledge of Ireland seems to have been acquired in 
a very short visit to a Unionist circle here thirty years ago ! 

It is when we come to Lord Morley's reminiscences 
of his Secretaryship for India that we leave political 
discussion and are furnished historical material of the 
first importance. Page after page of his lucid and mo- 



mentous correspondence with the Viceroy tell the de- 
tails of the problems that agitated the British govern- 
ment in the days before the war and of his part in 
bringing the spirit of enlightened liberalism to bear 
upon their solution. It is not possible within the limits 
of a short sketch to summarize his views and his work; 
for this his letters must be read in cxtenso. But an ink- 
ling of his point of view may be seen from this charac- 
teristic paragraph: 

Who are these and ? The very men who 

resisted you in your Arundel reforms — the most admirable 
and prudent thing that has been done in our time! And then, 
at a time when the cabinet is dispersed, the lawyers are dis- 
persed, and my council is half depleted, they give me a short 
week in which some of the most delicate and thorny points in 
the whole range of law and politics are to be disposed of. 
I daresay these executive gentlemen (who are so ready with 
compliments to one another for sagacity, experience, and all 
other virtues) can dispose of them in a week or an hour. 
But then they have the advantage of not having to argue 
and defend their proposals. I am not in so happy a position. 
I have often told you of my wicked thought that Strafford 
was an ideal type, both for governor of Ireland in the 
seventeenth century, and governor of India in the twentieth 
century. Only they cut off poor Strafford's head, and his 
idea of government has been in mighty disfavor ever since. 

It was while he was Secretary for India, in 1907, that 
Lord Morley had an interview with the Kaiser that to- 
day, in the light of what has happened since, and of 
what we know were the German activities then, takes 
on an especial interest. At the time he was impressed 
by the Kaiser's visit and thought that it made for Eu- 
ropean calm: 

I saw much of him at Windsor, and was surprised at his 
gayety, freedom, naturalness, geniality and good humor — evi- 
dently unaffected. He greeted me with mock salaams and 
other marks of Oriental obeisance. Seriously he put me 
through my paces about India. When I I .ilked. as we aH 
should, about the impossibility of forecasting EriLish rule 
in the Indian future, he hit his hand vehemently on his 
knee, with a vehement exclamation to match, that British 
rule would last forever. When I told this to Lord Roberts 
he laughed and said, "The emperor doesn't know much about 
facts." He asked how our Radical labor men treated Indian 
things. I said, "Without any ground for quarrel." He again 
struck his knee, praying that his own Socialists would only 
show the same sense. In your most private ear, I confide to 
you that important talks took place about the Bagdad rail- 
way. 

Altogether the two volumes of the ''Recollections*' 
are a mighty contribution to our knowledge and esti- 
mate of men and politics during a long and brilliant 
epoch and to their author we owe a great debt. 

Recollections. By John. Viscount Morley. Xew 
York : The Macmillan Company ; 2 volumes. 7.50 per set. 



Of the 397 members of the Reichstag, Prussia sends 
236. The body can be dissolved at any time by the 
Bundesrat with the consent of the emperor. This 
power has been used effectively three times to break 
down the resistance of the Reichstag; in 1S78, when it 
refused to pass the bill to suppress the Socialists; in 
1887, when it would not agree to fix the size of the 
army for seven years; and, in 1893. when it declined 
to change the military system. In each case the new 
body did what the government demanded. Since the 
principal financial arrangements are matters of stand- 
ing law, if the Reichstag refuses to pass a new budget 
increasing allowances, or passes one reducing them, the 
government can be carried on on the old basis without 
any action on the part of parliament. 
■^• ^ 

Many rains of fishes, frogs, and toads have been de- 
scribed in recent as well as ancient times and by eye- 
witnesses of unquestionable veracity. Mr. Mauduy. a 
French naturalist, saw in 1822 a heavy shower of rain 
in large drops, mixed with toads the size of a walnut. 
This occurred more than a league from any brook, 
river, or marsh. Showers of fish have been reported 
many times in the United States — in 1893 at Winter 
Park. Florida, in 1901 at Tillers Ferry, South Caro- 
lina, etc. In the Monthly Weather Review for May, 
1894, it was even recorded that during a severe hail- 
storm at Boving. eight miles east of Vicksburg. Mis- 
sissippi, a gopher turtle six by eight inches, entirely 
encased in ice, fell with the hail. 



The commonest of all forms of "nerves" among men 
at the front in Europe is, perhaps, the longing to be 
alone. It would be difficult to say how many men have 
had to be invalided out of the army because they can 
not live near other people. To such, theatres, crowded 
streets, the buzz of conversation in a room, the 
proximity of people in a train or in an omnibus be- 
come tortures that are almost unbearable. There are 
men who have taken to solitary huts in the forests, to 
tiny homes by the sea, where they will live like primi- 
tive men until something happens in their brains to 
jerk them back into the old routine of life. 
^»^ 

Wives in England were bought from the fifth to the 
eleventh century, and as late as the seventeenth cen- 
tury husbands of decent stations were not ashamed to 
beat their wives. Gentlemen arranged parties of pleas- 
ure for the purpose of seeing wretched women whipped 
at Bridewell. It was not till 1817 that the public whip- 
ping of women was abolished in England. 

The Comptroller of the Currency at V st 

year redeemed and destroyed soiled and r 

currency to the face value of $464,000. 



38 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 19, 1918. 



ESTABLISHED 1858 



SUTRO & CO. 

Investment Brokers 

AND DEALERS IN HIGH GRADE 

SECURITIES 

YIELDING FROM 

4V 2 % to 7% 

DETAILED INFORMATION UPON REQUEST 
INQUIRIES INVITED 

410 Montgomery St. - S. F., Cal. 



BUSINESS NOTES. 



The San Francisco Clearing House Asso- 
ciation reports total clearings of $93,177,- 
890.99 for the week ending January 12th, as 
compared with $30,653,940.61 in the corre- 
sponding week of last year. Saturday's ag- 
gregate was $13,324,836.19. 



The Federal Reserve Bank of San Fran- 
cisco reports for the week an increase of 



McDonnell & co. 

Members 
New York Stock Exchange 
New York Cotton Exchange 
San Francisco Stock and Bond 
Exchange 

MUNICIPAL BONDS 

Free from 
Income Tax 

To Yield 4fc% to 6% 

List on request 

242 MONTGOMERY STREET 

PALACE HOTEL FAIRMONT HOTEL 

Douglas 5234 



gold reserves to $104,939,000, as compared 
with $97,680,000 in the preceding week. This 
gain increases the proportionate gold reserve 
to net deposits and note liability to 72. 8S per 
cent., as against 70.85 per cent, in the prior 
week. 

Twenty-one cities in the United States in 
1917 exceeded $1,000,000,000 in bank clear- 
ings, compared with eighteen cities in 1916 
and fourteen in 1915. Among these San 



E. F. HDTTON & CO. 

Home Office, 61 Broadway 

Branches : 

WOOLWORTH BUILDING 

PLAZA HOTEL 

NEW YORK 



MEMBERS : 
New York Stock Exchange 
New York Cotton Exchange 
New Orleans Cotton Exchange 
Liverpool Cotton Association 
Chicago Board of Trade 



CALIFORNIA OFFICES: 

490 California Street 

St. Francis Hotel 

Bond Department, 343 Powell Street 

San Francisco 

First National Bank Building 

Oakland 

118 West Fourth Street 

Alexandria Hotel 

Los Angeles 

Hotel Maryland 

Pasadena 



Through Private Wire 
California Points to New York 



Francisco stood seventh with clearings of 
$4,837,854,596. The aggregate for the year 
of 131 leading cities reached $304,016,021,073, 
an increase of $44,355,876,232, or 17.5 per 
cent, over the previous record attained in 
1916. 

Bond transactions during the past month 



Bond & Goodwin 

COMMERCIAL PAPER 
BONDS 



4,4 CALIFORNIA STREET 
SAN FRANCISCO 



B0SU. 
SEW MRK 



CHICAGO 
MINNEAPOLIS 



SEATTLE 
PHILADELPHIA 



have been subject to erratic fluctuations — 
"peace rumors," "war taxes," and "govern- 
ment control of railroads" playing an impor- 
tant part in the daily quotations. 

Rails and industrials were inactive with 
fairly firm prices at the opening of the month. 
During the second week more activity devel- 
oped, but prices declined. The third week of 
the month witnessed a very general decline in 
all classes from high-grade rails to the more 
speculative foreign governments, the latter 
being particularly weak. This condition con- 
tinued until December 21st, when wide ad- 
vances were recorded in practically all of the 
foreign issues, Anglo-French 5s reaching a 
price of 89^, an advance of over seven 
points from recent low quotations of 81^. 
This sudden upturn in the market was at- 
tributed to the favorable influence of the Sec- 
retary of the Treasury's ruling on the in- 
ventory of securities in dealers' hands, which 
permitted losses in such securities to be de- 
ducted from the income-tax returns without 
the actual sale of the securities. It is gen- 
erally believed that the Secretary's ruling has 
relieved a great deal of pressure which re- 
sulted in the severe decline earlier in the 
month. These various currents have made it 
difficult to diagnose the market, for it is only 
under exceptional conditions that we experi- 
ence such wide fluctuations in Anglo-French 
5s, or an upturn of 1J^ per cent, in a day in 
U. S. Steel 5s, which carried them to 96. 

The Liberty issues continued weak, and dur- 
ing the past few days the Second 4s have sold 
below 97. 

The announcement of a director-general for 
the railroads resulted in advancing prices for 
the rails. 

In the municipal market the noteworthy 
transaction of the month was the prompt sale 
of $15,000,000 Miami Conservancy District, 
Ohio, 5 y 2 per cent, bonds. The following 
quotation from the Annalist summarizes the 
general favorable comment which appeared in 
all financial dailies ; "The single bright spot 
was found in the perfectly phenomenal suc- 
cess of the offering of the Miami Conservancy 
District, Ohio, 5J^s. This bond is something 
comparatively new in the investment field. 
Instead of being the obligation of a single 
municipality the Conservancy Flood Protec- 
tion District covers an area of more than 
169,000 acres of fertile territory in Ohio, 
taking in parts of nine counties, and includ- 
ing the cities of Dayton and Hamilton and a 
number of smaller municipalities. The syndi- 
cate originally offered $10,000,000 5}^s ma- 
turing serially from December 1, 1922 to 
1946, at par and interest, with a substantial 
commission to dealers and institutions. The 
entire block was sold almost immediately, and 
the option on $5,000,000 more bonds exercised 
at the same price, and by Thursday the en- 
tire $15,000,000 were placed so beautifully 
that a premium was bid on Friday. While 
the bond is in many ways unusually attrac- 
tive, being exempt from all Federal taxes and 
yielding 5*4 per cent., the rapid distribution 
astonished even the syndicate members." 

Other municipal issues during the month in- 
cluded $10,000,000 New York City Three 
Months Revenue Bills at prices ranging from 
4.50 per cent, to a 5.02 per cent, basis; $500,- 
000 St. Louis, Missouri, 4 per cent. School 
District Bonds, which were offered on a 4.60 
per cent, basis; $300,000 Westchester County 
5 per cent. Bonds, which were offered on a 
4.65 per cent, basis. 



The mines of California made an output in 
gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc valued in 
all at $41,457,692 in 1917, compared with $39,- 
749,263 in 1916, according to preliminary 
figures compiled by Charles G. Yale of the San 
Francisco office of the United States Geo- 
logical Survey, Department of the Interior. 
This is an increase of $1,708,429, or 4 per 
cent. 

The mine output of gold in 1916 was $21,- 
410,741. The estimated output of gold in 1917 
is $21,098,915, a decrease of $311,826. 

The output of silver from California mines 
in 1917 is estimated at 2,144,196 ounces, 
valued at $1,745,375, as compared with 2,564,- 
354 ounces, valued at $1,687,345 in 1916, a 
decrease of 420,158 ounces in quantity and an 
increase of $58,030 in value. 

The estimated mine output of copper in 
1917 is 57,591,195 pounds, valued at $15,664,- 
805, as compared with 55,897,118 pounds, 
valued at $13,750,691 in 1916, an increase in 
quantity of 1,690,077 pounds and in value of 
$1,914,114. Labor troubles during the year re- 
stricted somewhat the output of the most pro- 
ductive copper mines in the state, and thus 
affected the total. Shasta County was by far 
the largest producer in 1917, but Calaveras, 
Placer, and Plumas counties now have very 
productive mines, with their own reduction 
plants, and there are many smaller productive 
copper mines in other counties. 

The mine output of lead in 1916 was 12,- 
407,493 pounds, valued at $856,117; the esti- 
mated output in 1917 is 23,189,974 pounds, 
valued at $2,133,460, an increase in 1917 of 
10,782,481 pounds in quantity and of $1,277,- 
343 in value. Nearly all the lead comes from 



Inyo, San Bernardino, and other counties in 
the southern part of the state. 

The estimated output of zinc in 1917 is 
9,158,851 pounds, valued at $815,137, as com- 
pared with 15,256,485 pounds, valued at 
$2,044,369 in 1916, a reduction of 6,097,634 
pounds in quantity and a decrease of $1,229,- 
232 in value. The zinc comes entirely from 
Shasta and Inyo counties. Every one of the 
larger companies made a reduced output in 
1917. 

Stocks are on the mend. Prices had got so 
ridiculously low that even a fair-sized re- 
covery would look like a genuine bull market. 
And yet there are many industrial stocks 
whose assets and earnings positions have been 
improving during the year to justify a move- 
ment that will carry them to new high-record 
levels. 

The collapse of Russia naturally served to 
play havoc with the plans of a good many 
war supply companies, yet these unfilled con- 
tracts will be replaced by other orders for 
our government or allies which will involve 
more certain payment and should prove quite 
profitable. 

Despite all the peace rumors in the air, 
they may be disregarded until some signs are 
present of the actual disintegration of German 
militarism. Mr. Wilson and Premier Lloyd- 
George voice the sentiments of nine-tenths of 
the peoples now opposed to the Kaiser. How- 
ever, enough has been made of the peace talk 
by the stock market to suggest, feebly per- 
haps, how stocks would act were actual peace 
to be nearing. But who can predict when or 
how the war, so lightly and unexpectedly be- 
gun, may stop? Germany may seem resolutely 
opposed to revolutionary tendencies, but empty 
stomachs know few masters and the condi- 
tions in interior Germany this winter can not 
be favorable. There are also signs of great 
unrest on the part of German manufacturers 
and merchants, who know that each month 
the war is prolonged will mean much longer 
than a month in catching up their foreign 
trade after the war. 

Despite high taxes, the current dividend 
and interest payments will leave large funds 
for reinvestment, and just at a time when 
prices are shrieking bargains at every one 
who has a spare dollar. When it is further 
considered that there is now a lack of incen- 
tive on the part of the stockholder to sell out 
in order to "record his loss" against taxable 
income, and that there are many investors 
who are technically short of stocks, having 
sold out heretofore with the intention of re- 
placing, to say nothing of the many bear ope- 
rators who are actually short and must buy 
to make deliveries, we have an ideal condi- 
tion for a typical January rise. 

How the market will respond to later issues 
of war bonds is doubtful. This year has edu- 
cated street and public to the viewpoint that 
a bull market is utterly impossible in the face 
of new war loans. Yet, if strong enough in- 
terests can secure proper banking backing and 
have stocks in hand, it would be very easy for 
them to fool both street and public in this 
respect. In any event, we have a 1918 that 
is not only potentially capable of bringing 
about new record prices here and there, but 
reasonably certain to do so, as there are many 
stocks that have never been over-exploited 
in any of our war market booms. 

The successes achieved in combating enemy 
submarines should put new life in shipping 
shares, which present splendid opportunities 
for profit to the patient bulls. Marine pre- 
ferred is reasonably certain to pay another 
large extra dividend next year if indeed all 
the back payments of more than $70 per share 
are not arranged. 

Steeel and equipment issues and the good 
war stocks are the best things to be in, though 
standard and even low-grade rails could do 
immensely better with the right kind of news 
from Washington. Stocks of coal and iron, 
certainly, and of copper companies possibly 
should be in line for radical improvement. 



The Federal Reserve Bank of San Fran- 
cisco was advised Tuesday that Secretary of 
the Treasury McAdoo had announced that sub- 
scriptions had been received and allotted for 
$250,000,000 of the issue of Treasury Cer- 
tificates of Indebtedness, dated January 2d 
and maturing June 25, 1918. This makes the 
total issue to date of certificates maturing 
June 25th about $940,000,000. 



E. H. Rollins & Sons have just published 
their January circular describing municipal, 
railroad, and corporation issues yielding from 
4.40 per cent, to 7.75 per cent., which will be 
furnished upon request. This firm states that 
they believe the present market offers oppor- 
tunities to derive high returns from the safest 
investment securities, which opportunities oc- 
cur only a few times in a generation. 



The annual meeting of the Western Mort- 
gage and Guaranty Company was held Tues- 
day and all of the retiring directors were re- 
elected. No detailed financial statement was 
given out, but it was stated after the meeting 



F. M. BROWN & CO. 

HIGH GRADE 

Investment Securities 

Government, State, Municipal 
and Corporation 

BONDS 

300 Sansome Street, San Francisco, Cal. 

List of Current Offerings on Application. 



that the business of the company for 1917 
showed greater improvement over that for 
1916 than was expected in view of the 
changed conditions in the investment field. 
The amount of first-mortgage certificates out- 
standing at the end of 1917 showed a sub- 
stantial increase as compared with 1916, and 
there was a gratifying gain in the number 
of the company's new clients. 

The progressive improvement in the com- 
pany's business from year to year empha- 
sizes the fact that real estate mortgages are 
steadily gaining in favor among discerning in- 
vestors. 

The directors organized after the meeting 
and reelected the following officers: Presi- 
dent, R. N. Burgess ; vice-presidents, H. C. 
Breeden and H. T. Scott; secretary and treas- 
urer, M. J. Simon ; assistant secretary, F. B. 
Bradley ; executive committee, H. C. Breeden, 
R. N. Burgess, A. Christeson, William Fries, 
and Henry T. Scott. 



J. R. Mason & Co., exclusive dealers in 
California irrigation and reclamation district 
bonds, report a splendid business in this class 
of securities, which are particularly desirable 
because of their exemption from Federal in- 
come and other taxes. 

Carmichael Irrigation District 6 per cent, 
gold bonds, maturing from 1928 to 1936, 
comprise the firm's most recent offering. This 



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value of the land securing the bonds is $525,- 
000, against a bonded indebtedness of $78,900. 
The bonded debt per acre is about $25. 



The gold monetary stock (coin and bullion 
used as money) in the United States on No- 
vember 1 , 1917, is estimated in Secretary 
McAdoo's annual report at $3,041,500,000. 
The increase in the past ten months has been 
$174,500,000, and in the past three years 
$1,236,500,000. In five years the portion of 
the world's gold monetary stock held by the 
United States has increased from approxi- 
mately one-fifth to more than one-third. 



Herbert Fleishhacker, president of the 
Anglo and London Paris National Bank, was 
notified Monday by Chairman John Perrin of 
the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco 
that he had been reappointed as a member 
of the Advisory Council of the Federal Re- 
serve Board for the Twelfth District. Fleish- 
hacker has accepted the appointment. 



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January 19, 1918. 



THE AR&ONAUT 



39 



ADVERSARIES. 



A Story of a Domestic Misunderstanding. 

(When Sylvia Lind wrote "The Chorus" it 
was hailed as one of the cleverest and most 
distinctive novels of the day. The same au- 
thor now gives us a volume of poems and 
sketches entitled "The Thrush and the Jay" 
(E. P. Dutton & Co.; $1.60). The following 
excerpt may be considered as representative.) 
He was airing his socks in the dressing- 
room. The gas fire gilded his bare shins as 
he stood, a sock depending limply from either 
hand, his flannel shirt whisking a scant 
drapery about his lizard-like, obtrusive spine. 
At intervals he took a sip of pinkish liquid 
from a glass that was on the mantel-piece, 
and, tilting back his head, emitted a pro- 
longed bubbling sound — he was gargling. 

All his life he had been delicate ; but his 
Uncle Bullivant, though handicapped like 
himself, had contrived to live to the number 
of eighty years chiefly, it was reported, 
through airing his socks, not only on the com- 
paratively rare occasion of the return from 
the weekly wash, but every day. Though, as 
he sometimes murmured, "alas ! not a strong 
man," there was yet sufficient tenacity of 
purpose in him to insist upon the daily per- 
formance of this — almost religious — rite. 
Presently he knew he should hear his wife 
come whirring up the stairs — she always 
mounted two steps at a time — and her knock 
at his door. This was her share of the 
ritual. She was uneasy until he came down, 
partly, perhaps, because she wanted her break- 
fast. Whatever the cause, however, the note 
of anxiety in her voice was soothingly de- 
licious to him as she asked: 
"Are you all right ?" 
She was so seldom anxious. 
"Exceptionally robust persons," his soft 
voice droned with pathetic fortitude in his 
mental ear, "are sometimes a trifle insensi- 
tive." 

He stepped to one side of the fire, which 
was beginning to scorch him, and the socks 
now hung leg downwards. 

He remembered his first meeting with his 
wife. He had every reason to remember it. 
She was the first woman who had ever at- 
tracted his attention. Other women went past 
him like the invisible air ; but she had 
brought him, almost with a physical shock, to 
a realization of her existence. Looking back 
upon it, and forward along its inevitable path 
also, he concluded that "attract" was not the 
right word to apply to his sensations at all ; 
rather she had "affected" him. She had, as a 
matter of fact, affected him most unpleas- 
antly. He remembered the occasion very 
well ; it was at the opera. Her "motif," had 
he only realized it, was made plain in the 
nervous ten minutes that he spent after he 
reached his seat in wondering who would oc- 
cupy the empty place at his side, whether 
whoever it might be would come in time, and 
finally in the certainty that whoever it might 
be would not. He was in no mood for listen- 
ing to music when, with the first pitch dark- 
ness and triumphant crash of chords from the 
orchestra, she had stumbled against him and 
dropped into the vacant chair. She kept sur- 
prisingly still after her effort, and seemed, 
from the tranquil warmth her nearness shed 
around him, to be listening with heart-whole 
enjoyment. It was unconscionable. For him 
the mood of concentration had to be difficultly 
built up, and it was now altogether broken. 
He fumed, he ground his teeth, he thought 
of biting things to say. The overture and act 
were interminable. His irritation, indeed, 
was in danger of expending itself, when, on 
drawing a hard breath through his nose in a 
final paroxysm, "Shsh I" came lightly from 
her. It was an infamy. 

Illumination revealed his tormentor. She 
was a low-browed, dark-haired, bright-eyed 
creature, and the music had brought a glow 
into her cheeks. She flung back the cloak 
from her broad shoulders and surveyed the 
house. Was there no way of indicating his 
hatred and contempt? There was. He could 
not find his programme. His head, craned 
and bobbing in a variety of exaggerated 
searchings, at length attracted her attention. 
"Are you looking for something?" she asked 
him with a full glance from careless eyes. 

"My programme" — his voice came strangled ; 
"I think you are sitting on it." 
"Oh, I'm sure I'm not." 

He fought for self-control. "Excuse me, 
but I laid it on that chair. You came 

late " 

She was on her feet in a moment. 
"Oh, please don't remind me of all my 
faults at once! I'm so sorry!" She was full 
of silly laughter. On her chair was the pro- 
gramme. Doubly convicted of gross be- 
havior, she might have humbled herself now; 
but she lacked such grace. 

"If that is your programme, by the way," 
came her next remark, "what has become of 
mine? I had it in my hand when I sat 
down." 

She rose again and searched elaborately. 
No second programme was to be found. 
"You know, I think that must really be my 



programme I've given you." ("Given" was 
good.) "Do you mind if I look at it for a 

moment? I hadn't a chance, coming late " 

There was her character in a nutshell. She 
acknowledged her fault and was not bowed 
down by it. He had had to yield the fruit of 
his victory. Certainly he remembered the af- 
fair too well. 

She had not remained long in quietness 
after that. Her roving eye had soon dis- 
cerned friends across the balcony, and out 
she must plunge to talk to them. He found 
that he knew them, too. In less than a 
minute they were all coming toward him, and 
his tormentor was laughing noisily while she 
proclaimed : 

"Do introduce us! We've been having a 
back-street row about a programme." 

How coarse was her phraseology ! Even 
while they were engaged her voice had never 
pleased him. "It put him in mind of the red- 
faced men that slap comrades on the back in 
the street with the adjuration, "Cheer up, 
old blighter ! You're not dead yet." Her 
casual tone had the same offensive exuberance 
about it. He never heard it without a de- 
sire to draw his shoulder-blades together. 
Fortunately for her, she was unobservant of 
these things. 

"Exceptionally strong people," the inward 
voice droned, "are seldom really observant of 
detail." All the same, he wished he could 
hear her voice and knock at that moment. 
He missed the morning observance ; it was 
the happiest thing in his day. 

He completed his dressing, and, having 
risen two or three times on the balls of his 
feet "to rest the spine," applied his pince- 
nez to his nose, and went downstairs. 

The clock in the hall struck ten as he 
went into the dining-room. 

His wife was there. She was reading the 
paper in the full flood of air and sunlight 
from the open garden door. 

"Hullo !" she said, not without friendli- 
ness, "I thought you were never coming. I 
went on." She indicated the scooped egg- 
shells that flanked her plate, the stained cup, 
the toast-crumbs — she had breakfasted with- 
out him. It was unprecedented. 

"I have become accustomed to hearing your 
knock," he said very gently. "I fell into a 
reverie." 

He cleared his throat with a sudden self- 
consciousness. 

"I'm afraid the coffee is cold," said his 
wife, laying a large hand on either side of 
the coffee-pot. "Shall I ring for more?" 
"If you please," he said, wrinkling his lips. 
Her conduct, so lacking in refinement, so 
pregnant with reproachful criticism of him- 
self, should not receive the encouragement of 
a counter-demonstration. 

"What a delicious morning!" he said. 
"It was, an hour ago. It's clouding over 
now." 

He ate in silence. 

Presently the open window aroused his 
notice. He could see the bright wind lift the 
little front locks of his wife's hair. He would 
appeal to her better nature. He shivered 
slightly and turned up the collar of his coat. 
"Do you feel cold?" came her voice, solid 
and committal as a town crier's. 

"Not at all. Nothing to speak of. A trifle. 
Pray do not close the garden door on my ac- 
count." 

It was closed menacingly without a slam. 
He wished she had slammed it. It would 
have been more like her. He turned down 
the collar of his coat. He would try again. 
"Is there anything of interest in the paper 
this morning?" 

She held it towards him at once. 
"Nothing whatsoever," she said. 
He folded the paper into a convenient shape 
with several sharp little taps. What a rum- 
mage she always made of it ! Just as he was 
preparing to read a paragraph aloud to her, 
she got up and said : 

"Thanks so much, but I've read that al- 
ready. I'm going out." 

She went towards the door. Half-way she 
paused and, turning, said with an air of sud- 
den resolution: 

"Do you intend to play this game forever?" 
"I beg your pardon." 

"I asked if you meant to play this game 
forever ?" 

"What game?" 

"This game, playing at being polite when 
we're hating each other really. I'm sick of 
it!" 

"I'm sorry that you find my manners of- 
fensive." 

"Offensive!" She grew suddenly noisy; she 
was bound, he supposed, sooner or later, to 
make a noise. 

"Offensive!" she cried. "It's unspeakable, 
it's infamous, it's murderous, it's brutish ! 
You're strangling and stifling me. I thought 
when I married you it'd be like looking after 
a child, helping and mothering you and cheer- 
ing you up. But it's not, it's not. Do you 
know what it's like? It's like being tied to a 
spanceled goat, a sick, bleating, limping, span- 
celed goat. He won't jump and he won't let 
me jump. You're loathsome, you're horrible, 



you ought never to have been let loose on a 
healthy world! I am going to get some fresh 
air. Perhaps I'll never come back !" 

She flung out of the room with amazing 
violence. 

He was not quite sure that she caught his 
"Really, you seem a litle odd in your man- 
ner this morning !" 

"Brutish? Loathsome? Spanceled goat?" 
He repeated them to himself. She was ab- 
surd. 

He finished — he felt he owed it to himself 
to finish — his breakfast. He went into his 
study. As usual, she had bothered him for 
the day. 

"It's impossible, impossible," he said, as he 
always said. "I can't settle to anything." 

This time, strangely, he found that such 
was indeed the case. Her threat kept ringing 
alternating peals in his brain. Did she mean 
it? Did she not mean it? Would she come 
back as if nothing had happened? Would she 
not come back? If not, was he glad or sorry? 
If so, was he sorry or glad? It bothered 
him all the morning. 

At lunchtime she had not returned. The 
meal was laid soberly for one. He did not 
like to display his ignorance to the parlor 
maid by asking when "the mistress" was ex- 
pected. 

He returned to his study. Again the ago- 
nizing doubts repeated themselves. Ding- 
dong, ding-dong. It was maddening. He 
opened the door and listened to the silence of 
the house. He wished he could have heard 
her distant humming and have shut the door 
smartly on it with an air of being disturbed, 
as he had done the day before. He felt un- 
accountably restless. What ought he to do 
about her ? 

He found himself padding through the 
house. He looked out of the window and 
wished that he could see her coming, ad- 
vancing up the street, flowers in her arm, 
looking towards the window and meeting his 
eyes, and at the identical moment stepping into 
the road to avoid walking under a ladder 
placed by painters. against the wall. How he 
would have enjoyed now moving back with a 
frown into the room and saying to her quietly 
afterwards, "It would be better for you to 
chew your food properly than to avoid going 
under ladders." 

A strange, unaccustomed sense of isolation 
began to creep upon him. He thought he 
would take his tonic. He was not sure what 
he would do. It was most inconsiderate, 
"most inconsiderate" — he repeated it aloud — 
of her to go off in this sensational way. He 
would do his breathing exercises. He went 
into the dressing-room and locked the door. 

It was nearly tea-time when his wife came 
home. The house seemed strangely quiet to 
her. She put her sunshade into the hall 
stand with a sudden furtiveness as if she 
feared to make a noise. She was filled with 
vague apprehensions. What a bad-tempered 
beast she had been, flouncing out of the 
house like that ! Had he been terribly hurt 
and lonely all by himself? After all, he had 
never been strong. 

She should have come back sooner. The 
vague anxieties that tormented her in the 
mornings came crowding upon her. Was he 
all right? The house seemed much too still. 
She tiptoed to the drawing-room. No sign 
of him there. The study then. She called 
softly. No answer. How he did keep things 
up ! She tried with the thought to stifle the 
alarm within her breast. She raced upstairs. 
On the landing she called him. There was 
no reply. She knocked at the dressing-room 
door. Still only silence. She turned the 
handle. The door was locked. Trembling, 
she stood pressed close against the frame. 
She tried to quiet the drumming of her heart, 
to listen, only to listen! She held her breath. 
Through the shut door at length a small 
strange sound came to her. A prolonged 
bubbling sound. He was gargling. 



It was a camouflaged carrier pigeon at a 
point on the Somme field that saved a British 
regiment. This unit had achieved its ob- 
jective ahead of the time schedule, by which 
the attack was governed, and found itself in 
a village on which many German batteries 
had registered. Various units of Germans 
had been rallied also for counter-attack. 
The British commander had one pigeon. This 
was released while the command was being 
cut to pieces by the enemy's guns, and the 
message it carried brought relief in time to 
beat off the counter-attack organized by the 
Germans. 



The war has called back into service 
nearly 500 retired officers of the navy and 
138 former officers who resigned to enter 
civil life, including twenty-two rear-admirals, 
eighteen commodores, and thirty-four cap- 
tains. 




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Employees' Pension Fund 272,014 25 

Number of Depositors 63,907 

For the six months ending Deci 
dividend to depositors of 4 per cent r- 
waa declared. Open Saturday 1 



40 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 19, 1918. 



BOOK DEPARTMENT 

A Good Dog Story 

MICHAEL 

Brother of Jerry 

By 
JACK LONDON 

$1.50 net 



THE LATEST BOOKS. 



Michael. 
No one has ever told better dog stories 
than Jack London, unless it be Rudyard Kip- 
ling. The usual error is to depict the dog as 
a sort of half-witted human being in an ani- 
mal body, but neither London nor Kipling is 
guilty of this. Kipling knows more than Lon- 
don of the dog mentality, but London is un- 
surpassed in his picture of dog deeds. He 
strains our credulity, but what does it mat- 
ter? He does so here, endowing Michael with 
unbelievable achievements. Michael's supreme 
feat is performed in obedience to a signal un- 
detectable by any but himself. Suddenly 
he treats his adored master as a stranger, 
bristling at his approach and snapping sav- 
agely at his hand with every evidence of 
ferocity. The motif of Mr. London's book 
is the barbarous ill-treatment of the trained 
wild animal, and it may be said that nowhere 
does he so shine as in his protests against 
cruelty. 

Michael. By Jack London. New York: The 
Macmillan Company; $1.50. 



Peaceful Penetration. 

The business enterprise of the Germans and 
their organization of foreign trade were the 
subject of much admiration and emulation be- 
fore the war, and our consular reports are 
full of references to their efficient methods 
and the difficulty of competing with them. 
At the same time both these reports and the 
American manufacturers and exporters made 
frequent allusion to difficulties of competition 
that were not due to ordinary trade methods 
alone, but which showed credit methods and 
trust combinations in which the hand of the 
German government itself was seen. It was 
evident that credits were extended that no 
ordinary commercial banks or private firms 
could grant, and that drives were made for 
trade in special lines regardless of cost that 
could only have been sustained by some trust 
that eliminated the necessity of competition. 

But what was not realized was that this 
business policy was not merely aimed at se- 
curing the lion's share of the trade of any 
region, by fair means or foul, but that it was 
all directed by the German government as one 
part of its strategy to grasp political control 
and domination. When Cheradame and 
others first warned the rest of the world that 
we were not dealing simply with keen and un- 
scrupulous business rivals, but with ruthless 
political enemies that maintained under the 
guise of trade organization an army of spies 
and agents who were not only worming their 
way into all lines of commercial endeavor, 
but who were abusing the hospitality extended 
to them by undermining the political stability 
and order of these countries, spreading sedi- 
tion, breeding hatred of other countries, and 
wherever it was possible to start civil strife, 
aiding both parties impartially that disorder 
and weakness might result, no one believed 
them. It was too monstrous and fantastic. 
But now we know that it was true and more 
than true. German Kartells killing American 
attempts to start the manufacture of dyes in 
this country were only one part of the same 



Theodore Roosevelt 

Says : 

"The Indian Drum," by William 
MacHarg- and Edwin Balmer, has 
appealed to me particularly as one 
of those exceedingly strong: bits of 
work peculiarly American in type, - 
which we ought to greet as a last- 
ing contribution to the best Ameri- 
can work. 

A <emarkable mystery story. $1.40 

"taw Books at Newbegin's" 

149 Grant Avenue 



scheme that organized agents to destroy 
American factories and ships or to burn crops 
and grain elevators and poison cattle. 

Mr. A. D. McLaren is an able journalist 
who for a number of years represented Aus- 
tralian papers in Germany. Long before the 
war he realized the trend of German policy 
and spoke out freely about it in warning. 
Since the war began he has written much of 
importance, including a book entitled "Ger- 
manism from Within." His present book is 
an able analysis of the methods of the Ger- 
man machine in the carrying on of the war 
before the war, and is a complement to and 
a confirmation of the works of Cheradame and 
Dr. Dillon. His chapters on the German 
colonization policy and upon the German 
naturalization laws are of especial interest 

Peaceful Penetration. By A. D. McLaren. 
New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.; $1-50 net. 



The Principles of Mental Hygiene. 

The name of Dr. William A. White as an 
alienist and as a writer on psychoanalysis 
and disease of the mind is so well known 
as to attract attention at once to any new 
pronouncement by him. The title of the pres- 
ent volume is slightly misleading, for it deals 
with a much broader field than the title would 
seem to indicate. The object of the book is 
to lay a broad scientific foundation of psycho- 
logical science as a basis for meeting intelli- 
gently the crying social problems that are 
pressing for solution at the present time, such 
as those of the criminal, the insane, the 
feeble-minded, the pauper, the prostitute, the 
inebriate, and other social misfits that require 
enlightened treatment and not simply repres- 
sion. 

As an introduction to the consideration of 
these problems Dr. White treats us to a stimu- 
lating study of the evolution of mental de- 
velopment and character that is reminiscent 
of Dr. Henry Fairfield Osborn's recent epoch- 
making work. "The Origin and Evolution of 
Life," and these introductory chapters will 
prove a revelation of great moment to those 
who have not realized the lines along which 
the study of psychology has progressed in re- 
cent years. Altogether it is a volume that 
even - one interested in social movements 
should read and for social workers should 
prove invaluable. At times it suffers some- 
what from a rather involved style which 
has a tendency to render the reader im- 
patient, but this is but a trifling drawback to 
a book replete with scientific data and deduc- 
tion of supreme value. 

The Principles of Mental Hygiene. By Dr. 
William A. White. New York: The Macmillan 
Company; S2. 

The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow. 
A beautiful young lady, walking among the 
exhibits in a great metropolitan museum, is 
suddenly stricken dead, pierced through the 
heart by an Apache arrow. The mystery is 
deep and suspicion points successively toward 
different persons. Two keen detectives work 
upon the difficult problem and follow elusive 
clues. It would not be fair to trace their de- 
ductions and tell the denouement, for the 
charm of the story is that it holds you in 
thrilling suspense up to the last chapter. Such 
is Anna Katharine Green's latest detective 
tale, in which she displays all the vigor and 
spirit of her earlier stories. No one would 
for a moment imagine that she had counted 
her threescore and ten, and few who pick up 
the book will lay it down until the last page 
has been read. 

The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow. By Anna 
Katharine Green. New York: Dodd, Mead & 
Co.; $1.50. 

AmericanPresidents 

This book is described as "a critical study 
of each of the men who have filled our presi- 
dential chair," and as it contains only 148 
pages it will be seen that the studies are brief. 
But they lose nothing from their brevity 
They are terse, penetrating, and judicial. 

The author believes that our habits of vili- 
fication are largely responsible for the fact 
that our greatest men are not available for 
presidential office. The members of the Con- 
stitutional Convention of 1787 were grossly 
and vulgarly assailed. Washington was de- 
nounced like a pirate, and so was Lincoln. 
None the less our political manners are im- 
proving with our conceptions of political avail- 
ability. We are a little tired of the "prac- 
tical" politician, a little more insistent on the 
real values. 

American Presidents. Bv Thomas Francis 
Moran, Ph. D. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell 
Company; 75 cents. 



Conscience. 
The author has given us a valuable inquiry 
into the nature and authority of conscience, 
but unfortunately he adulterates it with vari- 
ous ecclesiastical disquisitions that are irrele- 
vant and irritating. The average man is will- 
ing to be interested in conscience because he 
knows that he has it, but he is not inclined to 
be interested in churches nor to admit that 
they are either divine or authoritative insti- 
tutions. Conscience alone is eternal, inter- 



nal, and universal. It is a perpetually present 
blue-print of the divine plan, adjusted to the 
individual intellectual development, and there- 
fore with different promptings for all men. 
But we may be grateful to the author for one 
illuminating suggestion, and indeed for many. 
Conscience, he tells us, dictates an effort to 
achieve a standard of conduct, but it does 
not necessarily define the standard. It is the 
effort that counts. 

Conscience. By the Rev. G. L. Richardson. 
M. A., B. D. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.; 
$1.75. _ 

Lord Redesdale's Pinal "Words. 

It is only a short time since Lord Redesdale 
closed his fourscore years of useful and in- 
teresting life, replete .with diplomatic and 
artistic experience. As a final contribution 
he has left behind him a collection of remi- 
niscences and comment that have just been 
published under the title of "Further Memo- 
ries." Those who enjoyed his earlier de- 
lightful "Memories" will welcome the ap- 
pearance of this additional volume. 

The present series contains some valuable 
reflections on Russian life and government 
which were the gleanings from his experience 
as third secretary at Petrograd in 1863. But 
the most interesting chapter of the book is 
devoted to the story of the founding of the 
great Wallace Collection in London and the 
mystery of Lord Hertford and Sir Richard 
Wallace, which in days gone by was the sub- 
ject of so much conjecture and gossip. 

Further Memories. By Lord Redesdale. New 
York: E. P. Dutton & Co.; $3.50 net. 



Pros and Cons. 
Dr. Leonard A. Magnus has produced a 
valuable war book of reference. He sets forth 
the German contention, usually from German 
writers, upon well nigh every disputed point 
and he appends the "contra" facts in a terse 
and condensed form. There are also bibli- 
ographies, tables of dates, and historical 
sketches. The volume contains nearly four 
hundred pages and it is so arranged as to fa- 
cilitate reference and to supply the precise 
information needed. 

Pros and Cons in the Great War. Bv Leonard 
A. Maenus, LL. B. New York: E. P. Dutton & 
Co.; $2. 

The Flyer's Guide. 
This handbook is intended as a practical 
introduction to the art of flying. The author 
places his pupil in an aeroplane, explains its 
mechanism, warns him against the errors of 
inexperience, and sets him to work. In the 
latter part of his book he deals with the 
theory" of flight and the principles of the in- 
ternal combustion engine. The book is prac- 
tically and lucidly written and it contains no 
superfluities. It should prove a valuable vade 
mecum to the would-be aviator. 

The Flyer's Guide. Bv Captain N. T. Gill. 
New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.; $2. 



Briefer Reviews. 

Some of the lighter issues of war from the 
English standpoint are well and humorously 
described in "The Smiths in War-Time," by 
Keble Howard (John Lane Company) . It 
consists of a series of sketches of the do- 
mestic life of an English family, anxious to 
"do their bit," but not always clear how to 
set about it. 

The Boy Scouts' Library in course of issue 
by Henry Holt & Co. has been enlarged by 
the addition of "Raven Patrol of Bob's Hill," 
by Charles E. Burton. The scene of the story 
is again Bob's Hill and old Greylock, with a 
summer camping trip of the Raven Patrol of 
the Boy Scouts to the Massachusetts coast 
and a Fourth of July in Boston. Price, $1.30. 

Alfred A. Knopf has published "Prince 
Melody in Music Land," by Elizabeth Simp- 
son. It is described as "musical fairy tales 
for musical children," and it is intended to 
teach the principles of music by associating 
the notes with fairies. It is a charming idea 
and effectively worked out; There are some 
unusually clever illustrations by Mary Vir- 
ginia Martin. Parents who wish their chil- 
dren to be musical should not overlook this 
book. Price, $1.25. 

Here is balm in Gilead for the bald. 
Richard W. Muller, M. D., in his "Baldness, 
Its Treatment and Its Prevention," explains 
the anatomy of the hair and describes the 
principal diseases, accidents, and physical de- 
fects which cause loss or prevent growth of 
the hair, giving the appropriate treatment for 
each case. All you have to do is to select 
the cause and apply the remedy. But the 
cause is usually cussedness. The book is 
published by E. P. Dutton & Co. ($2). 

"The Spring of Joy," by Mary Webb (E. P. 
Dutton & Co.; $1.25), is described as "a little 
book of healing." But the healing is not done 
by the usual incantations of the New 
Thoughtist. It is to be found in a cultiva- 
tion of joy and laughter and beauty, and we 
are "shown how" in five exquisite essays on 
motion, music, fragrance, form, shadow, and 



All Books that are reviewed In the 
Argonaut can be obtained at 

Robertson's 

222 STOCKTON ST. 

Union Square San Francisco 



THE HOLMES BOOK CO. 

can supply any book published. Call and in- 
spect our wonderful stock of thousands of vol- 
umes of every description. Special attention 
given " wants." Send us your list. 

Entire libraries purchased 
Cash paid for books of all kinds 

152 KEARNY ST. TWO STORES 70 THIRD ST. 
SAN FRANCISCO. CAL. 



color. The author has given us an unusual 
piece of writing. She lias a real vision of 
hidden things. 

If only we could be sure that the right 
people read the books instead of being sure 
that they don't. Here, for instance, is an ad- 
mirable little book by Bruce Barton entitled 
"More Power to You" (Century Company ; 
$1), suggesting that we may pay too high a 
price for success in business if it means the 
exclusion of the higher things of life that 
bring happiness and power. No one could 
read Mr. Barton's little book without inspira- 
tion, but, once more, we are afraid that it will 
be read more by the righteous than by the 
sinners. 



Gossip of Books and Authors. 
Sir Gilbert Parker, whose time since the 
publication of his latest novel, "The World 
for Sale," has been devoted almost entirely 
to public affairs, is now recovering in Eng- 
land from a slight operation and is at work 
again on his war novel, which will appear 
serially in Harper's Magazine. 

When a portion of "The Rise of David 
Levinsky," Abraham Cahan's life-story of an 
imaginary Russian immigrant (published a 
few weeks ago) made its appearance serially 
some literary critics mistook it for an actual 
autobiography. Now this season another new 
Harper book, "An American in the Making," 
the actual life-story of M. E. Ravage, is mis- 
taken by some reviewers for fiction. 

General Smuts was long ago recognized as 
one of the ablest generals in the British army, 
and Francis Brett Young's account of his 
service with him in East Africa in his book, 
"Marching on Tanga," which E. P. Dutton 
& Co. will bring out in a week or two, will 
add to his leader's reputation. It is a re- 
markably vivid narrative of pushing an army 
forward under conditions of the greatest dis- 
comfort and sweeping the Germans out of 
East Africa. 

"A Crusade of France" is the title of a re- 
markable series of war letters written from 
the French front to his family by Captain 
Ferdinand Belmont from the first of August, 
1914, until he was killed in action at the end of 
December, 1915. The work has a long intro- 
duction by Henry Bordeaux, the famous 
French novelist. 

"I was called to the bar and practiced for 
seven years with complete lack of success. 
This is to be attributed to two causes. First, 
I can not speak in public, and second. I can 
not understand law. I did not begin to write 
seriously until I was thirty, and even then I 
wrote frivolously. Some of my short stories 
were collected into a book. It may now be 
bought second-hand." These are a few of the 
facts which William Caine, author of "Three's 
a Crowd," an Anglo-American comedy, just 
published by the Houghton Mifflin Company, 
has contributed concerning himself. And in 
concluding his amusing little biographical 
sketch Mr. Caine says: "In 1914 my wife and 
I visited the United States. I began to write 
a book of my impressions, but the war put an 
end to it. The war has been blamed for a 
good deal, but let this stand to its credit." 

Now that the Holy City is in the hands 
of the British, it is interesting to note what 
Dr. Clarence D. Ussher says in his recently 
published book, "An American Physician in 
Turkey" (Houghton Mifflin Company), of the 
Kaiser's palace in,. Jerusalem. Dr. Ussher 
went to Turkey in 189S, and established a 
hospital at Van, returning to this country' 
when war broke out. "From Jaffa," he says. 
"I saw in the distance a high tower, and on 
inquiring what it was, was informed that it 
was the tower of the German Hospice on the 
Mount of Olives. I asked who built it, and 
what was its ultimate purpose. 'It was built 
and paid for by the Kaiser and dedicated by 
the Crown Prince,' was the reply. 'It will be 
first the palace of the German governor of 
Palestine and then of the Kaiser himself. 
from which he will rule his world kingdom.' " 
Dr. Ussher's book clearly shows the silent 
obedience in Turkey to the minute and ex- 
haustive preliminary plans laid down by the 
Prussian government. 



January 19, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



41 



THE LATEST BOOKS. 

The Fall of the Romanoffs. 
Who is the anonymous author of "Russian 
Court Memoirs" ? That is a question that is 
puzzling all students of Russian affairs. 
These memoirs were so different from the or- 
dinary backstairs gossip that makes up the 
usual so-called court memoirs that it was evi- 
dent that they came from the pen of some one 
very close to the life described, if not indeed a 
part of it. And now the same unknown au- 
thor has written a sequel to the earlier work, 
dealing with the later succession of events 
and the inner history of the Russian court 
and its relation to the revolution. 

That the volume throws much light on the 
inwardness of the revolution as far as the 
throne is concerned goes without saying. In- 
timate personal details of the main actors in 
the drama are set forth as could only be done 
by some one behind the scenes. Many inter- 
esting documents and letters and telegrams 
are placed before the reader by way of cor- 
roboration. In some regards, however, the 
author is not entirely fair and shows that 
while seeing much there were some things 
that did not come before his vision in their 
true perspective. 

The thesis of the book is that the ex-Em- 
press Alexandra was the evil genius of the 
Romanoff dynasty. Every one ever connected 
with her was the victim of ill luck as the 
result of the association. She not only did 
not enter into the spirit of the Russian 
people when she came among them, but 
showed a lofty disdain for all classes there 
and alienated even the most loyal people of 
the court by her aloofness and her coldness 
even when they made every effort to please 
her. Part of this, no doubt, was due to her 
unfortunate temperament, and perhaps to 
some extent to her sudden rise from the ob- 
scurity of a petty German ducal court to the 
grand position of Tsaritsa ; but the author 
shrewdly hints that she had been well 
schooled by the Kaiser in the German idea 
which led her to believe that her mission was 
to utilize her lofty position for the carrying 
out of the German world plan. 

A well-deserved tribute is paid to Nicholas 
II. His intelligence, his lofty motives, his 
loyalty, and his charming personality are set 
forth with justice. It is gratifying to see 
the popular ideas concerning him, most of 
them circulated by the Germans for their own 
' ends, thus corrected. For of course the 
Kaiser would have liked to see the Tsaritsa 
supreme, with the discredited Nicholas de- 
posed and the little Tsarivich on the throne 
with his German mother as regent. The short- 
comings of the Tsar were lovable ones. They 
were extreme faithfulness in family life and 
sincere devotion to Alexandra, and the deepest 
loyalty to the circle of those with whom he 
was surrounded and whom he was bound to 
trust. The first led him to defer to his wife 
in many things on which his own first judg- 
ment was just and correct. The second 
caused him to shut his ears to accusations 
against some of those about him who were 
unworthy of trust and enabled them to keep 
him in ignorance of the real signs of the 
times in Russia. It was also evident that 
during the last two or three years of his 
reign his will was much weakened and he 
found it increasingly difficult to stand up 
against the will of the Tsaritsa. Her favorite 
means of getting her way was to play upon 
his feelings with her fits of hysteria, and he 
would do almost anything to avoid these out- 
breaks. 

Step by step the author shows the blunders 
by which the country was led into revolution. 
At each point wise action taken with under- 
standing might have easily averted the catas- 
trophe, not only to the throne, but also to 
the Allied cause. Deceived at every turn, 
Nicholas nevertheless was always well poised 
and acted with dignity and patriotism up to 



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Applications will be received up to 
January 30, 1918 

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Telephone Prospect 4697 : San Francisco, CaJ. 



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any college, Annapolis, West Point, teachers' 
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Resident and Day Pupils. Sleeping- Porches 
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the information of affairs which he was able 
to obtain. In the final drama of abdication 
he was by far the most self-possessed and 
dignified actor and wrung from his adver- 
saries unstinted praise. 

The writer draws many interesting con- 
clusions, from an intimate knowledge of the 
Russian people, as to the probable outcome 
of the revolution. He does not think much 
of the theorists and doctrinaires who have 
been trying to evolve a sort of democratic 
system analogous to that which has been tried 
with some measure of success among more 
advanced and utterly different peoples. 
While of course he has no use for such Ger- 
man agents and fanatics as Lenine, he is 
equally severe in his criticism of such leaders 
as Lvov, Guchkov, and Miliukov, because they 
made such bad use of their opportunity and 
showed utter inability to maintain discipline 
or efficiency. Russia is bound to be a mon- 
archy. Without some visible symbol of au- 
thority the Russian people drift into chaos. 
Order must eventually return by this road. 
Whence is to come the new dynasty he does 
not venture to predict, but he points out as a 
precedent the way in which the Romanoff 
dynasty itself came to the throne after the 
troublous times at the beginning of the seven- 
teenth century as the choice of a national 
assembly or duma. 

As a whole- the volume is a really valuable 
contribution to our understanding of the re- 
markable drama of the Russian revolution 
and is a fascinating tale in itself, and it 
greatly whets our curiosity as to who the 
concealed observer is and what was his per- 
sonal relation to the kaleidoscopic events that 
closed the chapter of Romanoff rule. J. L. 

The Fall of the Romanoffs. New York: E. 
P. Dutton & Co.; $5 net. 



The Evolution of Science. 

Progress in scientific discovery and achieve- 
ment is geometric in its cumulative rapidity, 
and compendia dealing with the subject grow 
obsolete while the ink is still damp upon 
their pages. But the "Short History of 
Science" which has been prepared by Pro- 
fessors Sedgwick and Tyler is something 
more than a mere history. It is rather an 
analysis of the successive stages through 
which modern scientific discovery has passed 
and the interrelation between its several 
branches that has made our present progress 
possible. 

The authors have gathered together an 
amazing amount of historical detail concern- 
ing ancient and mediaeval scholars and in- 
vestigators, and their work, and have ar- 
ranged in lucid sequence the successive theo- 
ries and hypotheses that have been the 
stepping-stones to modern achievements. The 
volume will prove a valuable and fascinating 
handbook for the student and for the layman 
interested in scientific things. Especially 
noteworthy is the fact that the preeminent 
position of mathematics in all scientific dis- 
covery is given its proper recognition. 

A Short History of Science. By W. T. 
Sedgwick and H. W. Tyler. New York: The 
Macmillan Company; $2.50. 



Now Books Received. 
At Christmas Time. By Charles W. Wendte. 
Boston: The Beacon Press; 75 cents. 
Christmas songs and stories for children. 

The Little Red Wonder Book. By Lewis Gil- 
bert Wilson. Boston: The Beacon Press; 50 cents. 
A book of questions and answers for children. 

Efficiency. By Robert H. Davis and Perley 
Poore Sheehan. New York: George H. Doran 
Company ; 75 cents. 

A play in one act. 

Adam Bede. Edited by Laura J. Wylie. New 
York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 

Issued in the Modern Students' Library. 

America Yesterday and Today. By Nina B. 
Lamkin. Chicago: T. S. Denison & Co.; 50 cents. 
A pageant. 

A Banjo at Armageddon. By Berton Braley. 
New York: George H. Doran Company; $1. 
A volume of verse. 

His Own Home Town. By Larry Evans. New 
York: The H. K. Fly Company; $1.40. 
A novel. 

How to Build Mental Power. By Grenville 
Kleiser. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Com- 
pany; $3. 

A training in all the faculties of the mind. 

The Wolf-Cub. By Patrick and Terence Casey. 
Boston: Little, Brown & Co.; $1.40. 
A novel. 

West Is West. By Eugene Manlove Rhodes. 
New York: The H. K. Fly Company; $1.40. 
A novel. 

Cabin Fever. By B. M. Bower. Boston : 
Little, Brown & Co.; $1.35. 
A novel. 

Pawns of War. By Bosworth Crocker. Bos- 
ton: Little, Brown & Co.; $1.25. 
A play. 



The most expensive wood in the world is 
said to be the boxwood imported from Turkey 
for the use of engravers. The cost ranges 
from 4 to 10 cents a square inch for the best 
grade. 



GEMS FROM GERMANY. 

We are distinguished from other nations by 
our honorable love for outspoken convictions, 
which would make a cut-and-dried party sys- 
tem distasteful to us. — Treitschke. 

In our German people peaceful dispositions 
and war-like prowess are so happily mixed 
that in this respect no other people on the 
earth can rival us, and none seems so clearly 
predestined to light humanity on the way to 
true progress. — F. Lange. 

Where in the whole world can a people be 
found who have such cause for manly pride 
as we ? But we are equally far removed 
from presumption and from arrogance. — Pas- 
tor J. Rump. 

As the German bird, the eagle, hovers 
high over all the creatures of the earth, so 
also should the German feel that he is raised 
high above all other nations who surround 
him, and whom he sees in the limitless depth 
beneath him. — Professor W. Sombart. 

It is not only our enemies who, by their 
underground intrigues, have sought to divert 
from us the sympathies of other peoples. If 
we would speak frankly, we must admit that 
we ourselves are partly to blame in the mat- 
ter. A great part of the blame is due to our 
insufficient self-esteem and self-valuation — an 
inveterate German failing. — Professor Dr. R. 
Jannasch. 

We must vanquish, because the downfall 
of Germanism would mean the downfall of 
humanity. — Pastor K. Kotug. 

We must win, because if we were defeated, 
no one in the whole world could any longer 
cherish any remnant of belief in truth and 
right, in the Good, or, indeed, in any hisrher 
Power which wisely and justly guides the des- 
tinies of humanity. — W. Helm. 

Germany is precisely — who would venture 
to deny it — the representative of the highest 
morality, of the purest humanity, of the most 
chastened Christianity. He, therefore, who 
fights for its maintenance, its victory, fights 
for the highest blessings of humanity itself, 
and for human progress. Its defeat, its de- 
cline, would mean a falling back to the worst 
barbarism. — Pastor H. Francke. 

Germany's fight against the whole world is 
in reality the battle of the spirit against the 
whole world's infamy, falsehood, and devilish 
cunning. — Pastor W. Lehmann. 

The German army (in which I of course 
include the navy) is today the greatest insti- 
tute for moral education in the world. — Cham- 
berlain. 

From all sides testimonies are flowing in as 
to the noble manner in which our troops con- 
duct the war. — Pastor J. Rump. 

We thank our German army that it has 
kept spotless the shield of humanity and 
chivalry. It is true, we believe, that every 
bone of a German soldier, with his heroic 
heart and immortal soul, is worth more than 
a cathedral. — Professor W. Kahl. 

We see everywhere how our soldiers re- 
spect the sacred defenselessness of woman and 
child. — Professor J. Roethe. 

The German soldiers alone are thoroughly 
disciplined, and have never so much as hurt 
the hair of a single innocent human being. — 
Chamberlain. 

The depth of the German spirit displays 
itself also in respect for morality and dis- 
cipline. . . . How often in these days 
has the German soldier been subjected to the 
temptation to treat the inhabitants of foreign 
countries with violence and brutality. But 
everywhere he has obeyed the law, and shown 
that even in war he knows how to distinguish 
between the enemy to be crushed and defense- 
less women and children. The officials and 
clergy of conquered territory have frequently 
borne express testimony to this fact. — Pastor 
M. Hennig. 

One single highly cultured German warrior 
of those who are, alas ! falling in thousands 
represents a higher intellectual and moral life- 
value than hundreds of the raw children of 
nature whom England and France, Russia and 
Italy oppose to them. — Professor E. Haeckel. 

Germanism, when it rightly understands it- 
self, and remains true to its nature, is child- 
like and manlike, at once tender and strong, 
full of genuinely human simplicity, and there- 
fore of irreplaceable value to Kultur. — F. 
Lange. 

We, however, will not let ourselves be di- 
verted by all this hatred and envy from our 
striving towards a world-Kultur. We will 
busily and cheerfully work on at the eleva- 
tion of the whole human race. — Professor R. 
Eucken. 

If God is for us, who can be against us? 
It is enough for us to be a part of God. — 
Pastor W. Lehmann. 

Thou who dwellest high in Thy Heaven, 
above Cherubim, Seraphim, and Zeppelins, 
Thou who art enthroned as a God of thunder 
in the midst of lightning from the clouds, 
and lightning from sword and cannon, send 
thunder, lightning, hail, and tempest hurtling 
upon our enemy . . . and hurl him down 
to the dark burial-pits. — Pastor D. Vorwerk. 

There lurks in our people something of the 
God-consciousness which inspired the Old Tes- 



tament prophets. Very child-like indeed, but 
of far deeper meaning than he could guess, 
was the saying of a little boy to his playmate 
at the outbreak of war: "I am not in the 
least afraid. The good God will help us, for 
he is German." — K. Engclbrccht. 

We had greatly overvalued all other na- 
tions, even the French. The French are a 
people on the down grade. — The Kaiser. 

The soldier who spat in the face of the 
thorn-crowned Savior did not act more shame- 
lessly than does England now. — Pastor Tol- 
zien. 

We assert the view that . . . what 
once happened to Luther is now happening to 
our people ; it is experiencing a repetition of 
the Passion of Christ. — Dr. Preuss. 

We could draw many instructive parallels : 
we could say that as Jesus was treated so 
also have the German people been treated. — 
Pastor H. Franke. 

Gems (?) of German Thought. Compiled by 
William Archer. New York: Doubleday, Page 
& Co. 



CURRENT VERSE. 

The Anxious Dead. 
O guns, fall silent till the dead men hear 

Above their heads the legions pressing on ; 
(These fought their fight in time of bitter fear 

And died not knowing how the day had gone.) 

O flashing muzzles, pause, and let them sec 
The coming dawn that streaks the sky afar: 

Then let your mighty chorus witness be 

To them, and Csesar, that we still make war. 

Tell them, O guns, that we have heard their call, 
That we have sworn, and will not turn aside, 

That we will onward till we win or fall, 

That we will keep the faith for which they died. 

Bid them be patient, and some day, anon 
They shall feel earth enwrapt in silence deep. 

Shall greet, in wonderment, the quiet dawn, 
And in content may turn them to their sleep. 
— John McCrae. 



Chopin's Funeral March. 
Listen! Along the deadened air there comes 
The throb of drums. 



Now winding through the misty hills is plain 

A funeral train; 
Where black-swathed women chant as on they go 

A dirge of woe, 
And, sobbing low, the violins make moan 

In undertone. 

Now o'er the marching dirge sounds gloriously 
Pealing of trumpets, as for victory. 

Now pure and passionless boy-voices sing 
A funeral hymn, as for a mighty king. 

"Nobly he fought the fight, he kept the faith; 
Hail to the victor!" so the trumpet saith. 

Then violins, pulsing with utter woe: 

"He is gone from us; and we loved him so." 

Be he or king or serf upon the bier 
His meed of tears, his crown of praise, is here. 
Here all the dignity of Death; and here 
Triumphant trumpets blare to crown a king. 



Listen! Along the deaden air there comes 

The throb of drums. 
— Christopher Braithwaite, in the Living Church. 



The Theatre. 
The roar of the smoking world, the rage of the 

bleeding year, 
The reeking sin and sorrow they do not enter 

here. 

Here Peace still finds a temple to wait the dawning 

Truth, 
Here still the Hour holds solace for unforgetting 

Youth. 

Here Love still meets with Laughter to make the 
earth divine, 

Here Harlequin, immortal, still finds his Colum- 
bine. 

The dripping Death whose shadow lies red in 

every clime 
Is here a sombre legend that haunts an ancient 

time. 

Here Pierrot, still pursuing the glamourous Pier- 
rette, 

Bids those who dare, remember, and those who 
must, forget. 

Here, while the hosts of Horror the lands incar- 
nadine. 

A deathless Art keeps burning the lamps at 
Beauty's shrine. 

What though the jest and jester, as mortal service 

must, 
Be sometimes less than worthy of the immortal 

trust — 

Here, still through all the tempest, the peaceful 

tapers gleam, 
Serene upon the altar of an eternal Dream. 
— Samuel Hoffenstein, in New York Times. 



A man in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, 
who is a fearless snake-catcher, but is deaf, 
owes his safety to a peculiar condition of the 
calves of his legs, which always set up tremors 
when snakes are about. Hi? le 
cially valuable to him when a r ^ 
warning. 



42 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 19, 1918. 




ST. FRANCIS LITTLE THEATRE. 



A rustling, chattering, well-pleased matinee 
audience, as usual largely of women, as- 
sembled in the auditorium of the St. Francis 
Little Theatre on the occasion of that play- 
house resuming its two-a-week programme 
after a fortnight of holidaying. Evidently its 
weekly offerings were missed, and its clien- 
tele glad to have them resumed. 

Stanley Houghton's play "Phipps," in which 
we saw the Holbrook Blinn company appear 
a couple or so of years ago, furnished oppor- 
tunity for some pleasant comedy scenes and 
also gave Mr. Yule, the very conscientious 
and dependable utility man of the company, 
something of an opportunity. Mr. Yule, how- 
ever, following, no doubt, instructions laid 
down by the director, appeared as a decidedly 
mature flunkey serving in the capacity of but- 
ler to feather-headed Fanny and addle-headed 
Sir Gerald. The butler, indeed, was almost 
elderly, a cool, calm, quiet sentimentalist 
masking his actual softheartedness with the 
impassive air of a trained servitor. Just the 
sort of unpretentious, faithful servant that 
Fanny would have crushed into his usual 
self-effacement with a few languid words. 

Howard Elinn, I remember, gave Phipps 
the monumental calves and splendid livery of 
a footman. He was an imposing Phipps and, 
although Mr. Blinn is not a tall man, his 
Phipps looms imposingly in my recollection. 
I prefer his idea of what Phipps' outer man 
should be, for Mr. Maitland's idea has been 
to endue the butler with the quietest kind of 
a livery. But Fanny was just goose and 
woman enough when her abstracted eyes fell 
upon Phipps in recognition of the fact that 
he was alive and could feel to be pleasurably 
and softeningly influenced by his liveried 
splendor and gorgeous comeliness. The piece 
is just a bit of clever absurdity; a take-off on 
impassive servitors, pearl-grabbing wives, and 
foolishly compliant husbands. 

A new member of the company, Mr. Albert 
Morrison, appeared satisfactorily as Sir 
Gerald ; and Helene Sullivan as the fluffy 
weathervane Fanny was, as usual, clever and 
amusing in her delineation of frivolity. 

The second piece, "Abhul the Azra," by 
Sada Cowan, is a bit of Oriental love drama, 
as seen through Occidental eyes. How faith- 
ful it is to Oriental tradition I don't pretend 
to say, but its effectiveness was all on the 
outside. Arthur Maitland appeared as a sort 
of gentleman nomad of the desert, a hand- 
some, curly-headed youth gracefully costumed 
in ample Oriental draperies, and dominated 
by a rather too fleshly-looking old graybeard, 
who was ineffectually trying to preserve Abhul 
from women and damnation. The woman, of 
course, appears speedily on the scene, and 
proceeds to subjugate Abhul with neatness 
and dispatch. Now Abhul is of the race of 
Azra, "who live and love and die of love." 
One kiss apparently finishes him. Why he 
subsequently comes back to life I fail to un- 
derstand, since, as an Azra, he should have 
been consistent and gone on playing dead. 
In neither of the two roles that they filled 
in this play, however, do Miss Sullivan or 
Mr. Maitland, except physically, appear to full 
advantage. Oriental passion is not their 
forte. There always appears to be a lot of 
cool Americanism in the background, just as 
one seems to sense a dress suit, waiting so- 
licitously for Mr. Maitland, a dress suit — 
which he always wears like a gentleman — 
when he is playing Oriental nomads or Greek 
shepherds. Zuleika was just a hussy, but she 
was an Oriental one, and Miss Sullivan is 
much more convincing in representing an 
American of that species. 

The prize play of the afternoon was "The 
Constant Lover," a clever and diverting char- 
acter sketch by Sir John Rankin. Here the 
two leading players were quite at their ease 
in a very pretty woodland scene in which two 
young people are pleasantly engaged in mak- 
ing love and being made love to. And, by 
the way, we must pause in passing to pay our 
compliments to Mr. Maitland — I suppose he is 
responsi' 1 <le — for the unvarying success with 
which he has his scenes mounted. Simplicity, 
effective composition, and careful lighting are 
:roed it and the effects sought for are al- 
st ^variably gained. Thus, Sir Gerald's 
looked luxurious and inviting, the 
Hand scene sylvan and pretty, and the 



desert scene suggested the mystery and beauty 
of star-sown night. 

In "The Constant Lover" the aim of the 
author has been to create a pleasant atmos- 
phere of sylvan loveliness, morning sunshine, 
the singing of birds, and a handsome young 
man eating a red apple and making love to a 
pretty girl with simultaneous relish. The 
handsome young man also airs his views 
about things, taking the cuckoo for his text ; 
the wise cuckoo, which lays its eggs in other 
birds' nests ; and is afflicted with no family 
cares. Pretty Girl, however, is obeying her 
woman's instinct and preparing to nab a 
suitor. Each strikes a snag. Pretty Girl finds 
that the suitor doesn't materialize. Handsome 
Young Man prefers to be an irresponsible 
cuckoo. His snag is that he loses Pretty Girl, 
who is a simple and literal piece and only 
understands Iovemaking as a conventional in- 
stitution preceding marriage. 

'"The Constant Lover" was really delightful 
entertainment, the roles being most agreeably 
acted by the two players. Helene Sullivan, 
although lacking in emotional depth, has 
really considerable flexibility, and can depict 
girly-girls, nice, silver-haired mothers, or in- 
triguing sirens with equal facility. Mr. Mait- 
land, who has, no doubt, many cares con- 
nected with his double capacity, does not 
always slip thoroughly away from his own in- 
dividuality into that of his roles, but in "The 
Constant Lover" he satisfied thoroughly by 
his impersonation of the sunnily selfish wooer 
of the garden of girls. 



A GROUP OF NEW YORK PLAYS. 

We San Franciscans do not see much of 
Ethel Barrymore nowadays, but our theatre- 
goers remember her with great pleasure as 
she was in her big-eyed, fascinating girlhood. 
Marriage and maternity matronized the popu- 
lar star very quickly, as we discovered a 
little ruefully when she came out in Barrie's 
"The Twelve-Pound Look." How her ma- 
tronly embonpoint fitted into "Camille," which 
she is playing at the Empire Theatre. New 
York, we were curious to know, but it turns 
out that her girlhood slenderness has re- 
turned, coaxed back probably by a brisk 
course of dieting. With regained slenderness 
and a blonde wig Miss Barrymore evidently 
succeeded in suggesting the pathetic idea of 
tender youth that has been tricked out of its 
purity, rather than that of the fair sinner 
who has followed the easiest way through 
love of luxury. 

The surprising thing about the production, 
however, is that "Camille" has been modern- 
ized, revamped, brought up to date. It is 
quite impossible to conceive of such a state 
of things in regard to this famous classic of 
sentimentality, for thus it was to the Ameri- 
can public. With the Parisians it was dif- 
ferent. The scenes of festivity in the play in 
its French form were just as graphic and 
vivid as those of emotion, and with Sarah 
Bernhardt in the title-role "Camille" was, or 
seemed to be, a life picture of the elegant 
Bohemianism which so fascinates the imagina- 
tion of French dramatists and over-dominates 
th'eir plays. 

This modernized adaptation of the play, 
which, by the way, is now called "The Lady 
of the Camellias," shows Miss Barrymore as 
lovely and lovable, but not great. Still, she 
made her audience weep. Holbrook Blinn, 
by the way, is in the cast, appearing as a 
dignified father of Armand, in which role 
Conway Tearle see-sawed a little, but finally 
emerged in triumph ; and our old friend Rose 
Coghlan made a great success by the mingled 
humanness and worldliness of her Mme. 
Prudence. 

At the Playhouse in New York, Margaret 
Anglin, another star always firm in the favor 
of San Franciscans, is appearing in a comedy 
which, though tending toward the farcical, in- 
cludes some dealings with the question of 
war. "Billeted" is located in an English vil- 
lage in which some returned soldiers are bil- 
leted at the home of the heroine. The 
failure of Messrs. Jesse and Harwood, the 
two collaborating playwrights, to make more 
of the war aspects of the play is commented 
on unfavorably bj* some of the critics, who, 
however, award praise to Miss Anglin for the 
poise and finish of her acting, which dignifies 
a shallow and intrinsically uninteresting char- 
acter role. Truly, the way of the star is 
hard, and weary the way in search of a good 
play. Still, while Miss Anglin's talent en- 
titles her to the best, the play has a number 
of good points. An atmosphere of English 
provincialism is always enjoyed by Ameri- 
cans, and in "Billeted" it is well depicted. 
The dialogue, too, is described as witty and, 
in spite of the light tone of the play, there 
are several opportunities for Miss Anglin's 
exercise of her emotional power. 



has written an original and keenly satirical 
play on the subject of matrimony, which is 
treated as a social institution that the wage- 
earning young couple of average resources 
can not afford to support. There is much 
witty comment on the slings and arrows in- 
separable from matrimony, but the virtue of 
the piece lies in its combination of an in- 
teresting, plausible, and logical story with 
fresh, original, and spirited comment on the 
subject of subjects. It is even said by one 
of the reviewers that this inspired satire on 
one of the oldest and most respected of social 
institutions surpasses Shaw in some respects, 
and, most significant of all, W. D. Howells 
has felt moved to chronicle his appreciation, 
declaring that in "Why Marry?" the spectator 
can taste "the pleasure of Gilbert's finest mo- 
ments" ; further adding that certain of our 
dead and gone humorists "have not perished 
in vain if this has been a condition of our 
more delicate pleasure in the exquisite irony 
of a story such as Mr. Williams'." 

Such praise gives us a keen appetite to 
sample Mr. Williams' dish, which, we are 
assured, has an intellectual as well as a dra- 
matic savor. His subject is one that interests 
every one, be they misogynists or philanthro- 
pists, for nothing is so absorbing to the 
average human as the spectacle of men and 
women emerging from the rose mist of court- 
ship and adjusting themselves, to the purely 
prose exactions of matrimony. I do not 
doubt, however, that we shall see "Why 
Marry?" for it has set New York playgoers 
to cascading with laughter, and laughter 
brings the theatrical men money, which can 
not be disregarded, even though they are 
obliged to chase across the continent to get it. 
If it comes we may see Nat Goodwin again, 
for he is in the cast in a first-class comedy 
creation which made a great hit during the 
ten weeks' run of the play in Chicago, and 
which was repeated in New York. 



There is something in the theme of "Gen- 
eral Post," the English play which is being 
presented by Charles Dillingham at the Gaiety 
Theatre, New York, which reminds one of 
the idea of democracy seriously underlying 
J. M. Barrie's original and amusing comedy, 
"The Admirable Crichton." "General Post" 
is the English name for the old-fashioned 
game of stage-coach. War is the agency by 
which the cry "General Post" is called, and 
in the ensuing scramble tailors go up and 
baronets go down. The story opens in 1911, 
but at its close a social upheaval in England 
has been accomplished. In spite of the 
political and social color of its theme, how- 
ever, "General Post" is couched in the tone 
of comedy, and light comedy at that. The 
author's keenness of perception and breadth 
of outlook tells in the vitality which charac- 
terizes the play, although the light comedy 
tone is steadily sustained. But the characters 
are builded on reality, and the dialogue is 
enj oyed for its naturalness as well as its 
humor. Conservatives and Progressives, 
Tories and Liberals play their part in the 
great transformation wrought by the war. 
Added to its other virtues, "General Post" is 
well constructed, and the author has blended 
his apparently irreconcilable social elements 
into so clever, amusing, and interesting a 
story that the play shows promise of winning 
more than the average success. 



THEATRICAL ITEMS. 



"Why Marry?" demands Jesse Lynch Wil- 
liams in the title of his new and successful 
play. Here's a theme indeed, and a play- 
wright of parts to treat it more than ade- 
quately. This author is the rara avis who 



Geraldine Farrar, having had her last sea- 
son's "Thais" criticized for an insufficient 
revelation of personal charms, has reformed 
this season. Thais' new costume stops at the 
belt, except for "two small groups of jewels 
essentially located." It is further said of her 
that she made Man- Garden, as seen in her 
Thais picture, "look like a modest mis- 
sionary." 

One of New York's three new theatres, to 
be called Henry Miller's Theatre, will soon 
open on Forty-Third Street, but not, as was 
Mr. Miller's original intention, with "An- 
thony in Wonderland" for the opening attrac- 
tion, this piece having unaccountably failed 
when Mr. Miller brought it out this winter. 
San Franciscans will remember the piece as 
quite sufficiently original and entertaining, we 
would have thought, to please New York's 
vast multitude of light-minded, amusement- 
seeking transients. 



There are sixteen playhouses now planned 
or building in the sixteen national army can- 
tonments, each of which is named the Liberty 
Theatre. Marc Klaw, who undertakes the 
management of the" huge new organization, 
has got a problem to solve, the first of its 
kind, for never before has a manager been 
obliged to select a line of theatrical entertain- 
ment to appeal to an exclusively male au- 
dience. 

New York is not neglecting the language 
of our pet allies. At the Theatre du Vieux 
Colombier a novelty for Christmas week was 
Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," played in 



THE 

DE VALLY CLASSES 

IN OPERATIC AND LYRIC ART 

BLAKE & AMBER, Management 
ANTOINE V. K. DE VALLY, Director 

Studio and Recital Hall 

Eilers Building, 975 Market St. 

San Francisco, Cal. 

Phone Douglas 400 



classic French. And Sarah Bernhardt, peren- 
nially popular and ever interesting, in re- 
sponse to numerous requests, principally from 
educational authorities, has promised to re- 
vive "Fhedre." 



MOTHERING THE SOLDIERS. 



It has been a reproach against American 
matrons that they too often are willing to 
evade the responsibilities of maternity. And 
now that all of a sudden we see the countless 
tall sons of yearning mothers assembling in 
the great military rallying places of the na- 
tion, nearly all the women of the country 
have become potential mothers. Their hearts 
are as wax within them toward these big sol- 
dier boys, some of them lonely and shy, 
others cheerful with the animal spirits of 
youth, but the majority of them animated by 
a sense of self-dedication to the great task. 

The world is learning the stern and awful 
science of war, but this is the first war in his- 
tory in which the women have organized and 
done their womanly share toward caring for 
the youthful defenders of the nations. In 
San Francisco the National League of 
Women's Service in particular is doing work 
that it warms the heart to contemplate. 
Everybody has heard of the club rooms for 
enlisted soldiers and sailors that are being 
conducted at the Monadnock Building, but 
few have seen the men during their hours of 
relaxation except the women who are doing 
practical work there, for their privacy is 
strictly preserved. All enlisted men become 
members of the National Defenders' Club 
there established merely by going to the 
rooms and registering. Once there, they are 
sure to go again, so comfortable and inviting 
is the place. The women have given vent to 
their deep sense of gratitude to the nation's 
defenders by lavishing comforts, conveniences, 
and means of recreation for the free use of 
the men. The large numbers who avail them- 
selves of the club rooms show how great was 
the need. The institution is a barrier be- . 
tween them and the dangers which lie in wait 
for the lonely, detached youth far from home. 
All the mothers and motherly women who 
planned it remembered that, and many other 
things. They remembered that the young sol- 
diers, tired with the daily drill and endless 
walks through the streets of an unfamiliar 
city, need easy chairs and couches. They re- 
membered that youth likes games and enter- 
tainment, and that quantities of the boys love 
to read. There are always volunteer woman 
workers on duty there eager for the comfort 
of the men, who enter the clubrooms with 
a trustful reliance upon the good-will and 
careful solicitude of these kind volunteer aids, 
who nevertheless are very careful never to 
intrude their society or conversation unless 
they are sure it is wanted. The aspect of 
the young soldiers tells how thoroughly they 
surrender themselves to the soothing in- 
fluences of the place. Whether they lounge 
on the couches, read, write, or play games, 
they are relaxed, comfortable, and at peace. 
It would be a soothing balm to the sore 
hearts of their mothers and the hearts of the 
nation in general to see these lonely lads 
made so comfortable in the homelike atmos- 
phere that prevails. 

Josephine Hart Pkelfs. 



Peking is the greatest news centre in the 
Far East, and it seemed at one time in a 
way to become a stronghold of the English 
newspaper under divers ownership — Chinese, 
British, American, Japanese, and German. 
With the recent suppression of the Chino- 
British Peking Gazette, and that arrant pro- 
German, Gilbert Reid, trying to republish his 
Peking Post, there is room (remarks Far 
East) for an Anglo-American paper in the 
Chinese capital that shall maintain the almost 
forgotten ideal of the "square deal." The 
only paper at present published regularly in 
Peking is the Evening Times, a journal that 
takes up a very decided attitude in opposition 
to Japanese activities, and it is probably to 
counteract these efforts that the Japanese are 
reported to be endeavoring to purchase the 
Gazette, whose capable editor, Mr. Eugene 
Chen, is at present in asylum — at Shanghai. 
Peking is not adequately represented in its 
newspaper press. 



January 19, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



43 



FOYER AND BOX-OFFICE. 



"The Bird of Paradise" at the Cort 
Oliver Morosco's production of Richard 
Walton Tully's Hawaiian romance, "The Bird 
of Paradise." will be the offering at the Cort 
Theatre beginning Sunday, January 20th. 
This will be the fifth visit of America's fa- 
vorite drama. 

The cast this season includes Marion 
Hutchins, who will be seen as Luana, the 
little Kanaka who tries so hard to be a credit 
to her white husband. Prominent among 
other members of the company are Forrest 
Stanley as Dr. Wilson, who degenerates under 
the tropic spell ; John Richardson as the 
"beachcomber,"' who regenerates through his 
love for an American girl, Roberta Forrest as 
Diana, James Applebee, Jack Ellis, James Nel- 
son, Rose Watson, Maude Farrington, Maude 
Melvile, James Glasgow, and A. Francis Lenz. 
Then there are the Hawaiian singers, dancers, 
and musicians. 

The theme of "The Bird of Paradise" is the 
degeneration of one race when brought into 
close contact with an inferior civilization. It 
is an alluring and tragic story of the tropics 
in settings of gorgeous splendor to the haunt- 
ing and wailing notes of the ukulele. 



The New Bill at the Orpheum. 

There will be seven new acts in next 
week's Orpheum bill. 

Alan Brooks will appear in his successful 
comedy-dramalet, "Dollars and Sense." Mr. 
Brooks is seen at his best and as usual has 
an excellent supporting company. 

Toots Paka and her Hawaiians, native 
singers and instrumentalists, will present the 
instrumental music, songs, and dances of their 
island. 

Jack King and Morton Harvey will be heard 
in songs of unusual excellence. They will 
sing their latest success, "The Tunes My Dear 
Old Daddy Loved So Well." Mr. King com- 
poses the music and pla3'S the accompaniments 
of their songs and Mr. Harvey sings the 
lyrics, of which he is the author. 

Kellar Mack and Anna Earl will present 
original songs and patter. 

Bee Ho Gray, the versatile cowboy, and Ada 
Summerville with her trained horse "Onion" 




ORCHESTRA 

AlfredHcrtz. ----- Conductor. 

8th SUNDAY SYMPHONY CONCERT 

Cort Theatre 
SUNDAY AFT., JAN. 20, at 2:30 Sharp 

Programme — Fourth Symphony, Tschaikow- 
sky; "Le Mer" (The Sea), Debussy; "Es- 
pana," Chabrier. 

Prices — Sunday, 50c, 75c, $1; box and loge 
seats, $1.50. Tickets at Sherman, Clay & 
Co.'s except concert days; at Cort on concert 
day only. 

Next— Jan. 27th, 7th "POP" CONCERT. 



O 



RPHFIIM O'FARREL STREET 

I ULUlll BaweaiSlixilraiiidPmiB 



Week Beginning This Sunday Afternoon 

Matinee Every Day 
A GREAT NEW SHOW 

ALAX BROOKS in His Successful Comedy 
Dramalet, "Dollars and Sense"; TOOTS 
PAKA and Her Hawaiian Native Singers and 
Instrumentalists; JACK KING and MORTON 
HARVEY in "A Song Programme"; KELLAR 
MACK and ANNA EARL, Original Songs and 
Patter; BEE HO GRAY, the Versatile Cow- 
boy, and ADA SUMMERVILLE, with Her 
Trained Horse "Onion," in a Pot-Pourri of 
Comedy and Skill; THE LE GROHS, a Pan- 
tomime Novelty; ROY" RICE and MARY 
WERNER, "On the Scaffold"; JOSEPH E. 
HOWARD, the Well-Known Composer, and 
his Company of Forty in "A Musical World 
Revue." 

Evening prices, 10c, 25c, 50c, 75c. Mati- 
nee prices (except Saturdays, Sundays and 
holidays), 10c, 25c, 50c. Phone — Douglas 70. 



COLUMBIA THEATRE ItisS? 

^^Geary and Mason St». Phone Franklin 160 

Nightly, Including Sunday 

Matinees Wednesday and Saturday 

4th and Last Week Begins Mon., Jan. 21 

The Comedy That Will Live Forever 

"TURN TO THE RIGHT" 

It's a Peach of a Play 

Mon., Jan. 28 — JOHN E. KELLERD in 
Shakespearean Repertory. 



CQR£ 



Leading Theatre 

ELLIS AND MARKET 

Phone Sutter 2460 



Last time tonight — "Fair and Warmer" 
Starting Sunday Night, Jan. 20 

OLIVER MOROSCO'S 
Never-Dying Dramatic Triumph 

'THE BIRD OF PARADISE' 

By Richard Walton Tully 

Author of "Omar, the Tentmaker" 

Nights and Sat. mat., 25c to $1.50 

BEST SEATS $1.00 WED. MAT. 

Not Playing Oakland 



will appear in a pot-pourri of comedy and 
skill. Bee Ho Gray holds the world's cham- 
pionship for riding and roping. Miss Sum- 
merville gained the title of world's champion 
horsewoman through her riding and trained 
horse exhibition. 

The Le Grohs, two men and one girl, are 
pantomimic contortionists.- 

Roy Rice and Mary Werner will introduce 
a novelty by Blanche Merrill called "On the 
Scaffold." 

The only holdover on this great and novel 
bill will be Joseph E. Howard and his com- 
pany in his "Musical World Revue," which 
has scored a tremendous success. 



The Eighth Sunday Symphony Concert. 

The interesting programme rendered on Fri- 
day afternoon by the San Francisco Sym- 
phony Orchestra, under the direction of Al- 
fred Hertz, will be repeated on the afternoon 
of January 20th at the Cort Theatre as the 
regular Sunday event of the eighth pair of 
symphonies. 

The Fourth Symphony of Tschaikowsky, 
which opens the programme, is quite as well 
known as the great Russian composer's 
"Pathetique" Symphony and ranks as high in 
popular favor as the latter composition. 

Particular interest attaches to the three 
symphonic sketches by Debussy called "Le 
Mer" (The Sea). To its performance Hertz 
has brought vast study and several extra re- 
hearsals have been required by the orchestra, 
which is augmented for this number. The 
score calls for five trumpets, two harps, three 
bassoons, and other unusual requirements. 

"Espana," a Spanish rhapsody, by Chabrier, 
will conclude the concert. It is an elaborate 
composition dealing with dance rhythms and 
melodies. 

The seventh "Pop" concert will be given at 
the Cort on Sunday afternoon, January 27th. 
These will be the offerings : Overture, 
"Merry Wives of Windsor," Nicolai ; Largo 
from "New World" Symphony, Dvorak ; 
ballet music from "Le Cid," Massenet ; 
"Voices of the Forest," from "Siegfried," 
Wagner; British Folk Song Settings, Grain- 
ger; Irish Rhapsody, Herbert. 



Turn to the Right" Remains Another Week. 

Though it has already broken the season's 
records at the Columbia Theatre, "Turn to 
the Right !" is announced for an additional 
week. Engagements in Oakland and several 
Southern California cities have been canceled 
by the company in order to remain at the 
Columbia, but it is announced that the en- 
gagement will positively terminate Sunday 
night, January 27th. Matinees will be given 
Wednesday and Saturday during the rest of 
the run. 

The story of the play, told amid scenes 
ranging from a pawnshop to a peach orchard 
in full bloom, deals with the regeneration of 
three wayward youths through the love of the 
mother of one of them, Joe Bascom. The 
rescue of the Bascom fruit farm from the 
clutches of a town skinflint is attended by a 
series of startling surprises and comedy situa- 
tions. 

The St. Francis Little Theatre. 

Three clever little plays have been selected 
by Arthur Maitland as the offerings of the 
St. Francis Little Theatre for the next per- 
formances, on Tuesday evening, January 22d, 
and Wednesday matinee, January 23d, in the 
Colonial Ballroom of the Hotel St. Francis. 

An element of the serious enters into the 
first offering, "The Harvest," but the other 
two plays, "The Dear Departed" and "The 
Marriage Lease," are light in character. 

"The Harvest" is by T. W. Henshaw, and 
it deals with the eternal "triangle" love affair. 
It should make one of the most attractive 
presentations of the season. The organiza- 
tion will be reinforced for this play by Caro- 
line Clifford and a clever juvenile actor, 
Clifford Shirpser. Maitland himself will be 
most conveniently bestowed and the cast will 
further include Helene Sullivan and Albert 
Morrison. 

"The Dear Departed" is one of Stanley 
Houghton's conceits. It abounds in rural 
character studies and is steeped in drollery. 

Hobart Lee is the author of "The Mar- 
riage Lease," which ingeniously satirizes a 
marriage agreement presumably made in the 
year 1930, and which is subject to cancellation 
after a term of years if the bride and groom 
decide that single blessedness is preferable to 
the marital state. 

Attendance at the St. Francis Little The- 
atre continues to grow with every perform- 
ance. The weekly matinees, which are open 
to the public, are becoming very popular. 



Qodowsky in Two Mora Ricitala 
Leopold Godowsky has been able to re- 
arrange his California tour, and will return to 
this section following his southern appear- 
ances to play once more at the Columbia The- 
atre, on Thursday afternoon, January 31st, 
and once in Oakland at the Auditorium Opera 
House, on Friday night, February 1st. At the 



San Francisco recital he will play the won- 
derful Symphonic Studies of Robert Schu- 
mann. Brahms' Rhapsody, op. 79, No. 1 (B 
minor), and Cappriccio, op. 76, No. 2 (B 
minor), will come next, to be followed by the 
Grieg Ballade in the form of a set of varia- 
tions on a Norwegian theme. The Chopin 
group includes the Fantasie-Impromptu, the 
Impromptu No. 3 in G flat, the Scherzo, up. 
20, in B minor, and the Andante Spionato and 
Polonaise, op. 22. Finally will come a group 
containing the "Islamey" of Balakerieff, Ra- 
vel's "Jeux d'eau," and the Liszt "Mephisto 
Waltz." 

In Oakland the programme includes such 
gems as the Beethoven op. 81 Sonata and the 
famous Chopin B flat minor Sonata, Brahms' 
Rhapsody, op. 79, Shakespeare's Serenade by 
Schubert-Liszt, a special Chopin group, Hen- 
selt's Berceuse, Scriabin's "Poems," Moszkow- 
ski's "Autumn," Henselt's "If I Were a Bird," 
arranged by Godowsky, and the Schubert- 
Taussig "Marche Militaire." 

Tickets for the San Francisco concert are 
on sale at the usual places, and for the Oak- 
land concert at Sherman, Clay & Co.'s in Oak- 
land. 

John E. Kellerd In Shakespeare. 
Following "Turn to the Right !" on Mon- 
day night, the 28th instant, at the Columbia 
Theatre will appear John E. Kellerd and an 
exceptionally brilliant company. The two 
weeks of the engagement will be devoted to 
a repertory including "Hamlet," "The Mer- 
chant of Venice," "Macbeth," "Much Ado 
About Nothing," and "The Bells." 



Incomparable Yvette Guilbert Coming Soon. 

Some one has said of Yvette Guilbert that 
she is the most beloved in France of all her 
countrywomen. In the presence of Mme. 
Guilbert one understands that it is not art 
which creates personality, but personality 
which creates art. And the art of Yvette 
Guilbert lies not only in her complete mas- 
tery of the finest shadings of vocal expres- 
sion, but in her grace of movement, her un- 
limited powers of resource and of charac- 
terization, her marvelous pantomime, her 
sense of color and line, an art which she 
has created and developed absolutely as 
her own, and further an art which contains 
the cardinal elements of all other arts. A 
recital by this wonderful Frenchwoman can 
not aptly be described in words — it must be 
witnessed to be appreciated. Manager Selby 
C. Oppenheimer anounces three programmes 
by Mme. Guilbert. These will be given in 
the Scottish Rite Auditorium, and they will 
take place on Sunday afternoon, February 3d ; 
Wednesday night, February 6th, and Saturday 
afternoon, February 9th, and can be counted 
upon as the patriotic as well as artistic events 
of the year, for Mme. Guilbert at this time 
is assuredly the greatest propaganda for our 
allies that has ever appealed to this country. 
At her first recital Mme. Guilbert's pro- 
gramme will include the "Great Songs of 
France" costumed appropriately according to 
the period they represent, and her wonderful 
new creation called "The Life of Pierrot," 
said to be a most wonderful allegory of 
French bravery as exemplified in the present 
war. On Wednesday night a group of many 
songs typifying the various Parisian people 
will be the programme feature, and the Satur- 
day matinee includes wonderful groups of 
songs mainly treating of the army and navy 
life of the republic. Emily Gresser, the tal- 
ented violinist, will be assisting artist, and 
Maurice Eisner will preside at the piano- 
Mail orders for the Guilbert concerts should 
be sent in at once to Selby C. Oppenheimer, 
manager, in care of Sherman, Clay & Co., 
and should include current funds, with war 
tax added. 

Oberhoffer's Marvelous Memory. 

When an orchestral conductor directs a 
symphony or a concert from memory it is 
usually commented upon as a feat worthy of 
special mention. There are many conductors 
who so conduct certain works of which they 
have made a special study, but few possess the 
genius to conduct a large repertory without a 
book before them. The remarkable gifts of 
Emil Oberhoffer, conductor of the Minneapo- 
lis Symphony Orchestra, in this direction have 
excited comment everywhere. Undoubtedly 
much of the unusually magnetic and interest- 
ing interpretations for which the Minneapolis 
Orchestra is famous is due to this, for Ober- 
hoffer has been director of this famous or- 
ganization since its inception fourteen years 
ago. The Minneapolis Orchestra will make 
its annual visit to this city next month, giv- 
ing programmes at the Columbia Theatre on 
Thursday and Friday afternoons. February 7th 
and 8th, and a special programme at the 
Tivoli Opera House on Sunday morning, Feb- 
ruary 10th. In Oakland they will play at the 
Auditorium Opera House Saturday afternoon 
and night, February 9th. Reinald Werren- 
rath, the American baritone, has been engaged 
as special soloist at the Thursday and Sun- 
day concerts, and Marguerite Namara will 
sing at the Friday event. Mail orders should 




Stye (Fulton f I|pa0ant 



32-36 Geary Street 

SAN FRANCISCO ] 

The Restaurant Refined 

Candies and Cake s of Character 

One of San Francisco's Unique 
Places, in which prevails the 
old-fashioned idea of providing 
excellent food and courteous 
service at moderate prices. 

Breakfast, Luncheon, Tea and Dinner 

Manufacturers of "Small Blacks" 



be directed now to Selby C. Oppenheimer, 
manager, in care of Sherman, Clay & Co. 



A telegram from Efrem Zimbalist and his 
wife, Alma Gluck, to Manager Selby C. Op- 
penheimer, wishing him the compliments of 
the season, concluded with the assurance that 
Zimbalist was preparing special and interest- 
ing programmes for his forthcoming San 
Francisco recitals, which will take place at 
the Columbia Theatre on the Sunday after- 
noons of February 17th and 24th. 



A tenor new to San Francisco, yet whose 
successes have been tremendous throughout 
the country, is the young American singer, 
Theodore Karle, who will shortly appear here 
in recitals. 



Beating a horse with a barbed-wire whip ; 
throwing a cat into a blazing furnace ; 
dragging a cow behind a wagon ; starving by 
neglect a herd of forty-five cattle and a hun- 
dred hogs ; willfully burning horses to death 
in a stable — these are among the many atroci- 
ties discovered during 1917 by one or another 
of the 527 anti-cruelty societies in the United 
States interested in animal protection. 



During 1916 the so-called crisis expenses 
of the Dutch government — that is to say, 
expenses incurred in connection with the ab- 
normal conditions created by the European 
war — made up 48.38 per cent, of the total 
government expenditures. 



LEOPOLD 

Godowsky 



EXTRA CONCERTS 

COLUMBIA THEATRE 
Thursday Aft., Jan. 31 

Tickets $2. $1.50. $1, on sale Monday. Jan. 28, at 
usual offices 

AUDITORIUM OPER\ HOUSE - OAKLAND 
Friday Eve, Feb. 1 

Same prices. Tickets at Sherman-Clay, S. F. 
and Oatland. Knabe Piano Used. 

YVETTE 
GUILBERT 

Celebrated Interpreter of Songs. 
SCOTTISH RITE AUDITORIUM 
Sunday Aft.. Feb. 3. 
Wednesday Eve. Feb. 6. 
Saturday Aft., Feb. 9. 
Orchestra (15 rows) $2.00. next 5 
rows $1.50, Balance $1; Parquet $2 
and$l; Entire Balcony $1.50. 
MAIL ORDER*, accompanied by funds (10 per 
cent, added for war tax) . to Selby C. Oppenheimer. 
Met., care of Sherman, Clay & Co. SEAT SALE 
at usual place* Monday. Jan. 2*. Knabe Piano. 
Coming — Minneopolb Symphony Orchestra. 



St. Francis Little Theatre Club 

Direction of Mr. Arthur Maitland 

Colonial Ballroom, Hotel St. Francis 

Desires to state that the matinees which are 
given once a week by Mr. Maitland and a 
company of professional players are open to 
the public. Three playlets by the world's beat 
authors are given on each programme. 



ADMISSION, ONE DOLLAR 

Evening performances are for men 
only. Application for membership can be i 
to the committee. Room 875, St T 
Hotel. 



44 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 19, 1918- 



VANITY FAIR. 

The supply of clams, says a food authority 
from Washington, is by no means what it 
should be. Something must be done, he says, 
to increase the productivity of the clam and 
to economize its consumption. This com- 
munication from the seat of the greatest gov- 
ernment in the world is of a commendable 
brevity. It is indicative and suggestive rather 
than what may be called prescriptive. It 
limits itself to a gentle note of warning and 
admonition calculated to disturb our apathy 
rather than to arouse our apprehensions. 
Doubtless the censor would have objected to 
anything more definite, to anything that could 
carry comfort and consolation to the enemy. 
It would never do to provoke a flourish of 
trumpets from Admiral von Tirpitz, who as 
a naval man would be interested in clams, to 
the effect that American preparations had 
collapsed as the result of a clam crisis. These 
be perilous times when no caution can be ex- 
cessive. None the less we ourselves had 
noticed the scarcity of clams in the clam 
chowder, indeed one might say the entire ab- 
sence of clams. One ought not to use the 
■word clams so often in the same paragraph, 
T>ut not even the combined powers of dark- 
ness shall persuade us to call them succulent [ 
bivalves. 

But why is there a scarcity of clams ? Why 
are they less productive than of yore? Is 
it a decrease in the philoprogenitiveness of 
the erstwhile merry and reckless clam ? Is it 
the war? Is it possible that the clam also 
has resolved that it will not raise its boy to 
be a soldier? Is there a race suicide among 
the clams, or a sex strike? Is this a base 
attempt of the clam to enhance its value? 
Is it jealous of the oyster, and bent upon 
competition with its aristocratic neighbor at 
whose barrel in the fish shop it must glance 
with a positive hatred ? 

The remedy seems dubious. How does one 
increase the productivity of a clam? Can it 
be done without a violation of the moral 
sanctities, a loosening of the proper restraints 
of virtue, an assault upon righteousness? 
Are we justified in assailing the proper mod- 
esties, the reticences of the clam, and urging 
him to a carnival of propagation in defiance 
of the higher life toward which he may be 
striving, for all we know to the contrary? 
For what do we know of the soul strivings of 
the clam, his graspings after the single 
standard, his searchings for purity, his eager- 
ness to wear the white flower of a blameless 
life? It is high time for some organization 
of lofty women who shall devote themselves 
to the preservation of virtue among what we 
call the lower animals. We have corrupted 
and degraded them. Naturalists now tell us 
that nearly all animals are monogamous, and 



that they mate for life when left to them- 
selves. Instead of which we first domesticate 
them and then degrade them to our own level 
of promiscuity. That we should thus con- 
taminate the more highly evolved animals is 
bad enough, but to disturb the placid and 
serene virtue of the clam is nothing less than 
iniquitous. It should be seen to. Xo more 
clam chowder if we have to pay for it by 
debauching a humble brother whose weak and 
faltering steps should be directed upward and 
not downward, who should be encouraged to 
rise rather than to sink. 



Conversation in an English railway car- 
riage recently turned on the correspondents 
in the London Daily Mail who have suggested 
government encouragement of marriages by a 
"national matrimonial agency." 

A meek man with a sandy moustache said 
he thought it an excellent idea. 

"I don't agree with you," remarked acidly 
a broken-looking man with a large basket of 
household supplies on his lap. "What I 
would like to see is a national anti-matri- 
monial agency telling people how not to get 
married; telling men especially what sort of 
women to dodge and how to dodge them. It 
would be too late to do me any good, but as 
a mere humanitarian I would gladly pay an- 
other twopence in the pound income tax for 
the upkeep of the agency." Turning sharply 
on the meek man, he asked, "Are you married 
yourself ?" 

"No, sir ; I am a bachelor." 
"Just as I thought," sneered the broken- 
looking man. 

"If you think that marriage is the ideal 
state," asked a man in the corner of the 
compartment, "why are you a bachelor?" 

The meek man seemed to be rather dis- 
mayed by the hostile attitude of these mar- 
ried fellow-travelers. "Why am I a bache- 
lor?" he faltered. "Well, I*m not a bachelor 
by choice." 

"Sheer luck, I supose?" asked the broken- 
looking man. 

"On the contrary ; sheer nervousness. I'm 
frightened half out of my skin by the fair 
sex." 

"You'll be frightened right out of it if you 
marry one of them," growled the man in the 
corner. 

"I tremble when they look at me," resumed 
the meek man. 

"So do I," said the man in the corner, "at 
least when one of them does." 

"Every rime I've tried to propose," con- 
tinued the meek man, "I've stuttered and 
stammered." 

"It's not a complaint — it's a gift," observed 
the man in the corner. 

"And I break down half-way."' 

"You've got a good angel, sir, who looks 



after you," said the broken man reverently. 
"But still," maintained the meek man, "I 
think that 'Miss Right' is somewhere — if I 
could only find her." 

"Don't travel about so much," advised the 
man in the corner. 

"It's tempting Providence," agreed the 
broken-looking man. "I met my own wife 
on a seaside holiday. Within a week we 
were engaged." 

"A week !" exclaimed the meek man. "It 
would take me a year. How did you propose 
to her?" 

The broken-looking man stared at the meek- 
man in unfeigned surprise. He regarded him 
as visitors at the "Zoo" might regard a new 
animal. "How — did — I — propose ?" he re- 
peated slowly. He looked for help to the 
company in the compartment. They stared 
back at him as men who would say, "This is 
beyond us." 

The man in the corner helped things out 
"Don't you realize," he said gentry to the 
meek man — gently as one would talk to chil- 
dren — "that no man has ever yet proposed to 
a woman?" 

"I didn't realize it," said the raeek man 
faintly. 

"And yet you're talking rubbish about a 
national matrimonial agency. Don't you know 
that every woman is a matrimonial agency, 
working like steam for one client, herself ? 
Don't you know that even' girl's mother is 
another matrimonial agency ?" 

"Then how is it?" asked the meek man, 
"that I, who want to get married, who have 
a comfortable income, and am in the prime 
of life, can not find a wife?" 

"Heaven knows," said the man in the cor- 
ner, "unless they all think you are one of 
those ruthless professional bigamists." 

The train stopped and the meek man 
alighted with dignity-. "I opened a sensible 
discussion," he said stiffly, "and asked for 
sensible opinions — and I meet nothing but 
buffo on ery." 

"No, old chap," said the broken man sadly; 
"you have heard actual natural history." 




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to do is to laugh at everything. Keep jolly ! 
Make fun of it all ! You hear about the 
Tommies' jokes. Well, they'd go crazy if they 
didn't have their jokes. So they make a 
joke of everything." 

■*♦*■ 

Wife — What do you find so interesting in 
the paper, dear? Husband — I was just look- 
ing at the money market. Wife — Oh, do they 
have a money market ? Are there ever any 
bargains ? — Boston Transcript. 



Keep Jolly. 
"Pretty nearly the worst thing the soldiers 
have to do in this war," said Lieutenant 
Alexander McClintock of the United States 
Reserve, "is to sit around and think about it" 
The interview with Lieutenant McClintock 
in the New York Times continues: 

"When I was at Plattsburg," he added, "it 
seemed to me that those in charge were run- 
ning one grave danger — that of working the 
officers 'stale.' The latter were supposed to, 
be above the average of all-around intelli- 
gence, but they were worked up there harder 
than men are worked in any training camp in 
Canada or England." 

Lieutenant McClintock is a Kentuckian, 
just down from Plattsburg with a brand-new 
commission. It is not because he is an officer 
in the new American army that he can talk 
about the war and the soldiers, but because 
he has recently come back from active service 
in Flanders and France. He was a sergeant in 
the Eighty-Seventh Battalion, Canadian Gren- 
adier Guards. He was wounded in the battle 
of the Somme. He won the Distinguished 
Conduct Medal for conspicuous' gallantry in 
action and received the personal thanks of 
King George. He is the author of "Best o' 
Luck" (George H. Doran Company), one of 
the breeziest of the war's first-hand soldier 
narratives. And he has just been spending 
a short time on furlough' in New York before 
leaving for Camp Dix. 

He has some interesting things to say 
about "the front." And he has, withal, some 
words of warning for us in America. If 
every man, woman, and child doesn't wake up 
and help, he says, we may lose this war. 

"I say that the idle times and the thinking 
are 'pretty- nearly' the hardest things for the 
soldiers," he explained. 

"You can't tell a man 'what it will be like 
at the front.' You can talk and talk and talk, 
but you can never make it tangible for him. 
In general. I think it is quite' true that the 
soldier who goes into it for the first time is 
going to find the mental side harder and the 
physical side easier than he had expected. 

"It is the thinking about it all that drives 
men crazy. I've known men to go all to 
pieces just sitting around thinking. It gets 
on your nerves if you let it. The only thing 



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January 19, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



45 



STORYETTES. 

Grave and Gar, Epigram mat ic and Otherwise. 

A recent Belgian visitor to America, hear- 
ing a little girl called "Kitten," consulted his 
dictionary as to the meaning of the word. 
, Subsequently he was introduced to the young 
lady's mother, and, with a profound bow, re- 
marked : "I think I have the pleasure of 
addressing the old cat." 



A young couple went to a minister's house 
to get married. After the ceremony the 
bridegroom drew the clergyman aside and said 
in a whisper: "I'm sorry I have jio money 
to pay your fee, but if you'll take me down 
into the cellar I'll show you how to fix your 
gas meter so that it won't register." 



A story is told of the daughter of William 
Jennings Bryan. When a young girl she 
started to school one morning, and after a 
desperate run for a street-car finally suc- 
ceeded in catching it. As she took her seat 
she gasped : "Well, I'm glad one of the 
family can run for something and get it." 



A colored Baptist was exhorting. "Now, 
breddern and sistern, come up to de altar and 
have yo" sins washed away." All came up 
but one man. "Why. Bnidder Jones, don't yo' 
want yo' sins washed away ?" "I done had 
my sins washed away." "Yo' has? Where 
yo' had yo' sins washed away ?" "Ober at 
de Methodist church." "Ah, Brudder Jones, 
yo* aint been washed ; yo' jes' been dry 
cleaned." 



Fiske O'Hara, the singing Irish comedian, 
tells this story : "Some fellows are great 
friends of the government, but when it comes 
to being taxed, why, then — then they're like 
Murphy. 'Cheer up, man,' said Murphy to 
Dooley. 'Yez look as if yez didn't have a 
frind in the whole wurrld.' 'Oi haven't nei- 
ther,' Dooley groaned. 'G'wan,' cried Mur- 
phy heartily. 'If it aint money yez want to 
borrow Oi'm as good a frind as ever yez 
had.' " 



When visitors came Bobby was often turned 
out of his room and into the garret for a 
night or two. He did not object to this, but 
he felt that it endangered certain cherished 
possessions. When his uncle, the clergyman, 
arrived unexpectedly one night Bobby was 
transferred to his garret quarters in haste 
and with small ceremony, and neglected to 
take any precautions to guard his treasures. 
"I have to thank the thoughtful person who 
placed a glass of water on the table near the 
bed last night," said the clergyman the next 
morning. "I awoke in the night and found it 



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refreshing — most refreshing - ." "Oh !" said 
Bobby, in a tone of sorrow and reproach. 
"You've drinked up my nice new 'uarium, and 

all " But here Bobby's revelation was 

suppressed by his mother. 



On one occasion Judge Dewey oi Boston 
had before him a couple of girls charged with 
stealing ribbons from wreaths on graves. As 
the evidence of their guilt was not satisfac- 
tory, he ordered their discharge, accompanying 
it with this admonition: "Girls, keep out of 
the cemeteries as long as you can." 



Lord Northcliffe told a sea story at a ban- 
quet in New York. "Thanks to the Hun," he 
began, "the sea to all of us is hateful now as 
it was in peace time to the Burnley chap. 
A seasick Burnley chap on the Isle of Man 
boat was heard to say to his son : 'Jimmy, 
I've gotten a stick wi' a silver knob on't a' 
whoam. Tha' can have it. There's two or 
three quid i' the bank, an' that's for t' 
buryin'- And, Jimmy, bury me in t' Isle of 
Man. I can't stand this trip again, alive or 
dead.' " 



Professor William Howard Taft was in 
Xew York recently, and in the course of his 
short stay took an automobile ride over the 
boulevards and along Riverside Drive. At 
Ninetieth Street a young woman five years old 
saw the big touring car coming swiftly down 
the drive. After one long look at the big 
person in the rear seat she jerked the nurse's 
apron and screamed with delight. "Alice ! 
Alice !'" asked the nurse, excitedly, "what is 
it ?" "Fatty Arbuckle's growed a mustache 
juit like papa's !" 



Old Zeb Johnson, the champion white- 
washer, walked down the main street of the 
village one morning dressed in his best suit, 
with a large, brilliant buttonhole bouquet and 
with cotton gloves on his big hands. "Hello, 
Zeb," said the postman, "are you taking a 
holiday?" "Dish yere," said the old man with 
a proud wave of his huge hand, "dish yere 
am mah golden wedding anniversary, sah. 
Ah'm celebrating hit." "But your wife," said 
the postman, "is working as usual. I saw 
her at the washtub as I passed your house." 
"Her?" said Zeb hotly. "She aint got nuffin' 
ter do wif it. She's mah fou'th." 



Miss Margaret MacMillan, who has been 
made a Commander of the British Empire Or- 
der, speaking recently on the subject of co- 
education, told an amusiiig anecdote of a cer- 
tain college conducted on these lines where, 
however, the rule is that the male students 
are not permitted to visit the resident lady 
boarders. One day a male student was caught 
in the act of doing so and was brought up 
before the principal, who said: ''Well, Mr. 
Blank, the penalty for the first offense is 50 
cents, for the second $1, for the third $1.50, 
and so on, rising 50 cents each time up to 
$15." "How much would a season ticket 
cost ?" asked the imperturbable student. 



Two men borrowed a horse and carriage to 
take them to a distant pond on a fishing trip. 
Arrived at the pond, the men, by the exercise 
of great patience, managed to get the harness 
off the horse, after which they tied him to- a 
tree with a neck halter. The fishing over, the 
men set to work reharnessing the horse. 
They found that they could manage every- 
thing but the bridle. They simply couldn't 
get the bit into the horse's mouth, for he 
wouldn't open it. Finally one of them said, 
after every ruse had failed: "Well, friend, 
there's nothing to do but wait." "Wait for 
what ?" asked his friend. "Why, for the con- 
founded animal to yawn." 



Two brothers who live in an East Lancashire 
manufacturing town were noted for being ex- 
ceptionally well-served with nasal organs. 
One of the ring spinners at the mill where 
they worked invited them to a wedding and 
promised to send a cab for them. The cab 
duly arrived and the two brothers entered and 
planked themselves down, one in each window. 
In order to create an impression during the 
drive to the wedding, the two brothers were 
looking out of the cab, one on either side, so 
that the people could see them. All went 
well until the cab came to a rather narrow 
railway arch, which our travelers had to pass 
through. The cabman looked back to take his 
bearings and, seeing the two brothers' noses 
sticking out of the windows on either side, 
shouted: "Put them elbows in, please!" 



The story of how Mark Twain got into 
trouble with the Austrian authorities through 
the indiscretions of a Vienna journalist is 
told in a Boston newspaper. A certain re- 
porter, either in a facetious or in a vindictive 
moment, gave out that Mark Twain had been 
suspiciously loitering about the bridge which 
spans the Danube Canal near the Ring 
Strasse, and not far from the Hotel Metro- 
pole, at which the Clemens lived. Mark could 
not let this reflection upon his character go 



unchallenged. He hastened to explain — to 
apologize, in fact, for having given the au- 
thorities the slightest anxiety about him. The 
explanation was thoroughly Twainian. He had 
found by the bridge the longest German word 
he had ever seen, and, in order to comprehend 
it in all its longitude and latitude, he had 
pinned one end of it to the bridge with the 
idea of unfolding it. Bearing his precious bur- 
den with him, he came to the opposite end of 
the bridge, only, alas, to find that he still had 
yards to spare. The apology was accepted 
with many a broad grin. 



THE MERRY MUSE. 



Mary"« Littla Shoes. 
Mary had a little limp 

And furrows in her brow. 
She couldn't wear a number two, 
But tried it anyhow. 

— Kansas City Journal. 



The Rumor and the Truth. 
(After Longfellow.) 
I breathed a rumor into the air, 
It was accepted everywhere, 
For so swiftly it spread that I 
Could not explain it was a He. 

I breathed the truth into the air, 
It fell quite flat nearly everywhere, 
For who in these days cares forsooth 
For a thing so stale as the simple truth? 

For long months afterward — oh! how long! 
I found the rumor going strong, 
But the truth, from beginning to end, 
Was hotly denied by my dearest friend. 

— London Passing Show. 



The End of the War. 
Absolute knowledge I have none; 

But my aunt's washwoman's sister's son 
Heard a policeman on his beat 

Say to a porter on Houston Street, 
That he had a hrother who had a friend 
Who knew when the war was going to end. 
— J. L, S., in New York Herald. 



Ethics of the Jungle. 

Kipling's idea of a law of the jungle which 
is strictly obeyed is not nearly so fantastic 
as ft might be thought, remarks a recent 
writer. In fact, recent investigations, assisted 
immensely by the camera, and especially by 
the cinema, go to show that the novelist was 
right. For instance, it is an old idea that 
the lion and tiger took advantage of the ne- 
cessity put upon all beasts to drink, lying in 
wait at the water-hole for such defenseless 
creatures as the antelopes and giraffes. Yet 
such an idea is a libel on the lion and a 
travesty on the tiger's character. 

There is a standing armistice or truce of 
the drinking place. Even a lion will not take 
a defenseless fawn at a disadvantage. He 
will hunt fair. He therein sets an example 
to certain human brutes who neither hunt nor 
fight fair. 

The \yater-bole is neutral ground, and it 
seems to be well understood that while there 
the peace must be kept. But there is order 
of precedence in the forest as there is in the 
farm. Have you ever seen cows going into 
the byre or through a gate into the pasture? 
They know their order, and will not on any 
account precede their "betters," while any 
cow who should get into her wrong stall, 
should attempt to "go up higher," might not 
survive the experiment. 

Thus at the water-hole, when many animals 
in the darkness come down together to drink, 
there is a recognized order of "imbibing." 
The rhino gets first turn — thinking only now 
of the big game of Africa. Even my lord 
the elephant gives him "best." Perhaps it is 
because of his exceedingly ancient lineage, a 
sort of stray out of the past, when the mas- 
todon and the ichthyosaurus were around, and 
it is to be feared that his day is nearly done. 

But the elephants come second, and then 
come the lions, leopards, and other big cats. 
Meanwhile the milder animals have been 
standing in the background awaiting their 
turn and unmolested by their powerful neigh- 
bors, who later in the night may possibly hunt 
one of their number down and make a meal 
of him. But at the water-hole is peace. 



"On what ground did she sue him for di- 
vorce?" "Somewhere in South Dakota, I be- 
lieve." — Baltimore American. 



Gas 
Heating 

by the 

RECTOR 
SYSTEM 



IS 



Simple and 
Effective 



We invite your 
inquiry 



Pacific Gas and 
Electric Company 

House Heating Department 

445 SUTTER STREET 

Phone Sutter 140 



HAMMOND 

LUMBER COMPANY 

260 CALIFORNIA ST. 

REDWOOD, DOUGLAS FIR 
and PILING 



WALTERS SURGICAL COMPANY 

SURGEONS' INSTRUMENTS 

Hospital and Sick Room Supplies 
TruMe* and Abdominal Supporters 

393 Sutter Street : : San Francisco, CaJ. 
Telephone Douglas 4017 



THE CONNECTICUT 

FIRE INSURANCE CO. 
of HARTFORD 

Established 1850 

PACIFIC DEPARTMENT 

THE INSURANCE EXCHANGE, Su Fiudm 

BENJAMIN J. SMITH - - - Manager 

Fhed'k S. Dick, Assistant Manager 



BONESTELL & CO. 

PAPER 

The paper used in printing the Argonaut ii 

furnished by us 

CALIFORNIA'S LEADING PAPER HOUSE 

118 to 124 First Street, corner Minna, 

San Francisco 



UNION IRON WORKS CO. 

Marine, Stationary and Mining Machinery of Every 
Description. Especially Equipped for Repair Work 

DRY DOCK FACILITIES— 2 Graving Docks, 750 aid 484 feel long; 3 Floating Docks, 310, 271 and 210 feel long 

Manufacturer* Risdon Water Tube Boiler Dahl Oil Burning System 

ENGINEERS AND SHIP BUILDERS 

Office and Work*: City Office: 

20th and Michigan Streets 260 California Street 

SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 



46 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 19, 1918. 



NEff YORK: 

48 East 57th Street 



Chinese Antiques 

SAN FRANCISCO: 

284 Post Street 



PERSONAL. 



Notes and Gossip. 
A chronicle of the social happenings dur- 
ing the past week in the cities on and around 
the Bay of San Francisco will be found in 
the following department : 

Mrs. James T. Rucker has announced the en- 
gagement of her daughter. Miss Edith Rucker, 
and Mr. Warren Spieker. Mr. Spieker is the son 
of Mrs. John J. Spieker and the brother of Mrs. 
John Drum. The marriage of Miss Rucker and 
Mr. Spieker will be solemnized in the spring. 

Mrs. Henry C Breeden entertained a group of 
friends at luncheon Monday at the Francisca 
Club, her guests having included Mrs. Henry 
Dutton, Mrs. Frederick McNear, Mrs. William 
Taylor, Mrs. Laurance Scott, Mrs. Augustus Tay- 
lor, and Mrs. Eugene Murphy. 

Mrs. Henry Sinsheimer entertained a number 
of friends at dinner at the Hotel St. Francis last 
Thursday evening. 

Miss Marie Louise Baldwin was hostess to a 
number of friends at luncheon Tuesday afternoon 
at her home on Pacific Avenue. 

Mr. and Mrs. Harrison Clay gave a dinner 
Saturday evening at their home in Oakland, their 
guests including Mr. and Mrs. Ferdinand Stephen- 
son, Miss Katherine Maxwell, Miss Elizabeth Clay, 
Mr. Walter Schilling, Mr. Harold Wood, and 
Lieutenant Roy Sloan. 

Mrs. Dixwell Hewitt gave a luncheon last 
Wednesday at her home on Broadway, her guests 
including Mrs. Horace Chase, Mrs. .Gerard Cle- 
ment, Mrs. Shatter Howard, Mrs. George Howard, 
and Miss Augusta Foute. 

Mrs. Cunis Barbour gave a tea last week at 
her home in Claremont, complimenting Mrs. R. A. 
Long, the wife of Captain Long, U. S. N. 

Mrs. Robert H. Smith gave a bridge-luncheon 
Friday at her home on Pacific Avenue. 

Mrs. William Taylor gave a luncheon Wednes- 
day at the Hotel St. Francis, her guests including 
Mrs. Samuel Hopkins, Mrs. Charles McCormick, 
Mrs. Frederick McNear, Mrs. Talbot Walker, Mrs. 
Augustus Taylor, Mrs. Walter Martin, and Miss 
Marion Zeile. 

Mr. and Mrs. Frank Deering gave a dinner 
Saturday evening for the friends of their daughter, 
Miss Francesca Deering. Included in the group 
were Miss Margaret Deahl, Miss Jean Howard, 
Miss Francesca Deering, Miss Marie Louise Pot- 
ter, Miss Carol Klink, Miss Eleanor Morgan, Mr. 
Gordon Hitchcock, Mr. Ted Scribner, Mr. Alan 
Drum, Mr. Van Pelt Harley, Mr. Dan Fuller, 
and Mr. Frank Fuller. 

Mr. Harold Scribner and Mr. Ted Scribner en- 
tertained a number of their friends at a dance 
Saturday evening given at the home of Mr. and 
Mrs. Othello Scribner in Presidio Terrace. 

Mrs. I. R. D. Grubb gave a tea Tuesday after- 
noon at her home on Jackson Street in honor of 
her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Hanson Grubb. 

Mr. and Mrs. George A. Newhall entertained 
a group of friends at dinner Wednesday evening 
at their home in Burlingame. 

Miss Dorothy Deane was hostess at tea last 
Wednesday afternoon at her home on Vallejo 
Street. 

Mr. and Mrs. Junius Browne gave a theatre 
and supper party last Wednesday evening, their 
guests having included Mr- and Mrs. Willis 
Walker, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Cook, Miss Emelie 
Tubbs, Mrs. William Krag, and Mr. George Perry 
of Detroit. 

Mr. and Mrs. Harold Havens gave a dinner 
last Wednesday evening at the Palace Hotel in 
honor of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Burnham. 

Mrs. Russell Slade and Mrs. Spencer were 
hostesses at a supper-dance Saturday evening, the 
affair having been arranged in honor of a group 
of men from the aviation school at Berkeley. 
Among those asked to meet the honored guests 
were Mr. and Mrs. Harold Casey, Mr. and Mrs. 
Clinton La Montagne, Mr. and Mrs. Alan Van 
Fleet, Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. Wheeler, Jr., 
Miss Elena Eyre, Miss Margaret Scheld, Miss Ha 
Ward, Miss Julia Van Fleet, Miss Jean Wheeler, 
Miss Dorothy Deane, Miss Lola Lee, Miss Kate 
Crocker, Miss Emelie Tubbs, Miss Marion Baker, 
Miss Jean Winner, Miss Cornelia Clampett, Miss 
Ethel Lee, Miss Helen Johnson, Miss Frances 
Johnson, Miss Florence Holbertson, and Miss 
Marita Rossi. 



day, planning to pass a portion of her visit in 
New York with her daughter, Mrs. Oscar Cooper. 

Miss Ysabel Chase is visiting in San Diego as 
the guest of Mrs. Frederick Hussey. 

Mr. and Mrs. Walter Lilienthal have taken 
apartments at the Palace Hotel, where they will 
pass the remainder of the winter. 

Major Harry Howland, who has resided in San 
Francisco for several years, sailed last week for 
France. 

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Newell have returned to 
their home in Piedmont from a visit in San Diego, 
where they were guests of Mrs. Peter Kyne. 

Mr. and Mrs. Gerard Cement arrived several 
days ago from Seattle and have taken apartments 
at the Plaza Hotel. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hasket Derby returned a few 
days ago to San Francisco, after an absence of 
several weeks in the East. 

Mr. and Mrs. George H. Mendell, Jr., and 
Miss Louise Janin spent the week-end with Dr. 
Harry Tevis at his country home at Alma. 

Mr. and Mrs. Leopold Michaels have returned 
to their apartments at the St. Francis from a so- 
journ in the East. 

Mr. William Taylor returned last week to San 
Francisco from a trip to New York. 

Mr. and Mrs. Edward Bullard have returned 
to San Francisco, after a visit of a few weeks 
with their son, Lietuenant Edward Bullard. 

Mrs. Russell Slade has left for San Antonio, 
Texas, to see Mr. Slade, who is with the aviation 
school in Texas. 

Mrs. Wakefield Baker and Miss Marion Baker 
have returned to their apartments at the Palace 
Hotel from a trip to San Diego. 

Lieutenant Lloyd Schultz and Mrs. Schultz, 
who have been residing at San Antonio, Texas, 
since their marriage, have gone to Fort Sill, Okla- 
homa. 

Mr. and Mrs. George Nickel and their children 
will return in a few days to their ranch in the 
San Joaquin Valley, alter a visit of several weeks 
in San Francisco with Mr. and Mrs. George Mc- 
Near and Mr. and Mrs. Leroy Nickel. 

Mrs. H. L. Kemper and her daughter, Miss 
Cornelia Kemper, are guests at the Clift Hotel 
from their home in San Luis Obispo. 

Mr. Clinton La Montagne has left for a visit 
of a few weeks in Washington. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bertody Stone are visiting in 
San Francisco from their ranch in Siskiyou 
County. 

Miss Elizabeth George spent the week-end in 
San Francisco as the house guest of Miss Mary 
Gorgas at her home on Pacific Avenue. 

Mrs. Peter Addison and Miss Edith Redfield of 
Seattle are guests of Mrs. Elson Lewis at her 
home in the Presidio. 

Mr. Corbett Moody has joined the aviation 
service of the army and will leave in a few days 
for San Antonio, Texas. 

Dr. W. R. Cluness, Jr., and Mrs. Cluness have 
taken the home of Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Cole- 
man, Jr., on Jackson Street, for the remainder of 
the winter. 

Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Fennimore have returned 
to San Francisco from a visit of several weeks 
in Texas. 

Mr. and Mrs. Chauncey Pennoyer have gone to 
Honolulu for a visit of several weeks. 

Mrs. Henry St. Goar, Miss Helen St. Goar, 
and Miss Elena Eyre are passing several days at 
Coronado. 

Mrs. James Keeney and Miss Helen Keeney 
will return in a few days to San Francisco from 
a prolonged visit in Eastern cities. 

Major William McKittrick and Mrs. McKittrick 
are guests at the Fairmont Hotel from their ranch 
at Bakersfield. 

Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Haldorn have returned to 
their home on Clay Street from a trip to Mon- 
terey- 
Mr. and Mrs. Porter Ashe have gone to Coro- 
nado for a sojourn of several days. 

Mr. Louis Monteagle returned last week to his 
home on Pacific Avenue from New York. 

Among the guests registered this week at the 
Hotel Shattuck in Berkeley are Mr. and Mrs. 
Earl M. Cranston, Mr. Jack Cranston and Mrs. L. 
M. Pitkin, from Denver; Mr. and Mrs. H. F. 
Dunstan, Shanghai; Mr. James F. Ross and 
family, Los Angeles; Captain F. N. Iglehart and 
Mrs. Iglehart, Baltimore; Mrs. Thomas G. Hailey 
and Miss Elizabeth Hailey, Portland; Major A 
Parker and family, Washington, D. C. ; Mr. and 
Mrs. Edward B. Rodgers, Waynesboro, Virginia. 



Movements and WhereaboutB. 

Annexed will be found a resume of move- 
ments to and from this city and Coast and 
the whereabouts of absent Californians : 

Mrs. Norman McLaren has gone East to join 
her daughter, Mrs. Millen Griffith, planning to be 
away indefinitely. 

Mr. and Mrs. Sigmund Stern have returned to 
San Francisco from a sojourn of two months in 
New York. 

Mr. and Mrs. James Schwabacher have returned 
to their apartments at the Hotel St. Francis from 
a visit of several days in Pasadena. 

Mrs. John B. Casserly has gone to Chicago, 
where she is the guest of her mother, Mrs. 
Michael Cudahy. 

Lieutenant Gordon Johnson and Mr. Howard 
Sprecke a left last week for New York. Lieu- 
tenant Johnson will leave in the near future for 
France, 

Mi?- Margaret Trimble arrived a few days ago 
. _-r home in Santa Barbara and is the guest 
f M Macondray Moore and Miss Alejandra 
-i:cni_-ay at their home on Webster Street. 

rs. Downey Harvey left for the East Tues- 



Henry Ford believes that America should 
at once get busy and build automobile roads. 
Mr. Ford says: "To supplement our rail- 
road system we should build concrete roads 
that will last for hundreds of years, with low 
upkeep charges. In this country 80 per cent 
of the road hauling is done on 20 per cent. 
of the highways, and if this 20 per cent, of 
the roads were rebuilt of concrete, trucks and 
automobiles will then take over much of the 
short haul business within a short time and 
bring land and city nearer together. The rail- 
road congestion will be relieved by the motor 
truck through this means." 



Reports of prices in Stockholm name $100 
a ton for anthracite coal that formerly sold 
for $15. Tea sells for $8 a pound; choco- 
late, $3 ; ham, $1. House rents, because of 
the influx of foreigners to escape the rigors 
of war, have advanced in proportion. 



"BURLINGAME HILLS" 

Let us build you a REAL HOME on the sunny, 
wooded slopes of Burlingame Hills, on a large 
Villa Site, near Hillsborough, commanding a 
beautiful view and excellent climate. 

PANAMA REALTY CO. - 68 Post St. 

H. B. CLIFTON, Sole* Mutger 
Phone Sutter 4610 



For Belgian Children. 

An unusual variation among the many en- 
tertainments given for war sufferers will be 
the "Evening of Impersonations" in the St. 
Francis ballroom on the evening of January 
23d. Mrs. Henry Lund, Jr., is devoting her 
talent to the cause of Belgian children, and 
her impersonations will include such famous 
figures as Julia Marlowe, Laurette Taylor, 
and Elsie Ferguson, as well as original studies 
from life. 

Horace Britt, well known to symphony 
lovers as the first 'cellist, will offer some 
charming numbers. 

Some of those who have taken boxes are 
Mr. and Mrs. Sigmund Stern, Mr. and Mrs. 
Alfred Sutro, Mr. and Mrs. F. P. Deering, 
Mrs. Elia Williams, and Mrs. M. C. Porter. 

Tickets are on sale at the St. Francis and 
at Sherman, Clay & Co.'s. 

Others especially interested in this work for 
the Belgian children are Mrs. Harry M. Sher- 
man. Mrs. Paul Bancroft, Mrs. R. M. Loeser, 
Mrs. A. P. Black, Mrs. George Sperry, Mrs. 
William Hamilton, Mrs. Lewis Hobart, Mrs. 
Louis Mullgardt, Mrs. Clarence Smith, Mrs. 
George Caswell, Mrs. H. P. Livermore, Miss 
Sallie Magnard, and Miss Ethel Beaver. 



Wismer-Hughes Concerts. 
The third concert given by Mr. Hother 
Wismer and Mrs. Robert Hughes will take 
place on Tuesday evening, January 29th, at 
Sorosis Auditorium. A splendid programme 
will be rendered, including a group of violin 
soli by American composers played by Hother 
Wismer and the Richard Strauss Sonata for 
violin and piano in E flat, op. IS, and the Le- 
clair (Old French) Sonata and Haydn's E flat 
Sonata. It will be interesting to hear Arthur 
Foote's violin ballad, which Mr. Wismer 
played with Mr. Foote during his last visit in 
San Francisco. 



Mr. Landfield'a Lectures. 
Mr. Jerome Landfield announces that his 
Wednesday morning lectures at the Palace 
Hotel on Current Events will henceforth begin 
at 11 o'clock instead of 10:30. 



San Francisco's unit of home guards will 
be paraded at the Civic Auditorium next 
Tuesday evening, when Governor Stephens 
will review it by invitation if his duties per- 
mit his so doing. 

«— 

One of the newest ventures in neighbor- 
hood work is a club for Chinese mothers 
which has been organized at Toronto. 



To Our Friends. 

You wouldn't dream of leaving large sums 
of money in your home or office day after 
day and night after night. 

Yet you leave valuable treasures there — 
heirlooms, jewelry, keepsakes — which money 
could never replace ; you leave important 
papers there — insurance policies, securities, 
receipts, Liberty Bonds — the loss of which 
would cost you large sums of money. 

Did it ever occur to you that there is ab- 
solutely no safely- for your valuables in your 
home or office ? 

You do not need to be reminded of fire 
dangers and the uncertainty and havoc of 
them, but you may not realize what an in- 
tricate, scientific, almost infallible profession 
burglary is ! Home and office locks and safes 
are slight obstacles in the way of a profes- 
sional thief. 

Your turn may not have come yet, but that 
does not mean that it never will 

But, it never will if you take the proper 
Precautions. — Don't trust the home hiding 
places — a joke to thieves — nor to an office 
safe, because there is only one really secure 
place — a safe deposit box! 

THE CROCKER SAFE DEPOSIT 
VAULTS have been built to defeat the 
professional burglar and safecracker, and to 
safeguard against earthquake and fire. 

They were built b3' expert vault builders. 
These vaults are probably the largest, strong- 
est, and best vaults west of New York. 

There are two entrances, one on Market 
Street, and one direct from the Bank, which 
saves time for those who have banking busi- 
ness and a deposit box. 

There is a large and beautifully- appointed 
Committee Room and a Reception Parlor in 
the Ladies' Department, where every facility 
is found for reading, writing, resting. 
Stenographers, Notary* and Messenger Service 
are right at hand. 

The boxes are large and conveniently ar- 
ranged, and the key on your chain is the* 
only one that .unlocks your box. You are 
assured of absolute privacy, and, for about 
ONE CENT A DAY, you are assured also of 
perfect protection. 

Give us the pleasure of letting us show you 
through these splendid vaults. 

CROCKER SAFE DEPOSIT VAULTS 
Crocker Bldg., Post and Market Sts. 
Under Management 
John F. Cunningham. (Adv.) 



Hotel Oakland 

OAKLAND, CAL. 

Among the finest Hotels in 
the State, Where Welcome 
and Service Await All. 

American and European Plan 

W. C. JURGENS, Gen'l Manager 



Hotel 

I?sAnjeles 



m*Sn 



An absolutely 
fire-proof 
hotel of 

distinctively 
high standards. 

Logical 

headquarters for 
San Franciscans. 

VERNON GOODWIN 

Tice-Pres. ud Smpu Dtrtdsr 



HOTEL SHATTUCK 

BERKELEY'S FINEST 
FAMILY HOTEL 



300 beautifully furnished guest 
rooms, fireproof building, and 
one of the most homelike and 
attractive hotels in the West. 
Offers superior accommodations 
at reasonable rates — high enough 
to insure best service and cui- 
sine. 

Thirty-five minute* from San Francisco. 

EVERY RECREATION-DANCING, 
TENNIS. ETC. 

Under Management of 
W. W. WHITECOTTON 



HOTEL 

WHITCOMB 

AT CIVIC CENTER 

Tea is served every afternoon, 

and there is dancing every 

Saturday night in the 

SUN ROOM 



J. H. VAN HORNE 



Manager 




Hotel Del Coronado 

(American Plan) 

CORONADO BEACH 
CALIFORNIA 

Completely equipped with AUTOMATIC SPRINKLER SYSTEM 

SPLENDID IB-HOLE GOLF COURSE 

Motoring, Tennis, Bay and Surf Bathing, 

Fishing ana Boating 

Near Camp Kearny, San Diego 

JOHN J. HERNAN. Manager 



W. B. HAYWARD - CATERER 

Successor to 
Wheeler & Hayward 
Most Complete Catering Establish meat 
in San Francisco 
Equipment for 2000 people. Chairs, tables, 
linens, china and silverware, rented for ban- 
quets, weddings, lunches, dinners. receptions- 
Punches, fancy ice-cream, frozen dainties, 
lemonades, and sandwiches a specialty. 
Tel. Franklin 1089 : 1157 SUTTER STREET 



January 19. 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



47 



F. N. DOWLING 

FURNITURE 

AND 

DECORATION 



26 East 57th Street 
LONDON NEW YORK gARlS 

Formerly of 473 Fifth Ave. 



EXCLUSIVE FURNITURE OF 
FRENCH AND ENGLISH 
PERIODS, SILKS, TAPES- 
TRIES, BROCADES, OLD 
ENGLISH LINENS, ETC. 



REAL FOUNDER OF RED CROSS? 



An Italian Soldier of Fortune Said to Have Created 
It in 1586. 

The famous Camillus de Lellis founded the 
first society of Red Cross nurses. The facts 
of this article are gleaned by Henry B. Tier- 
ney from a remarkable book, "The Hospital 
Saint,'" written by a Sister of Mercy, a de- 
scendant of Martin Luther. Camillus de 
Lellis was a soldier of fortune, great sinner, 
and great saint, who founded a nursing order 
with the Red Cross as its emblem nearly four 
centuries ago. 

In the town of Bacchiano, in the then king- 
dom of Xaples. in the year 1550, fourteen 
years before the birth of Shakespeare, a son 
was born to Giovanni de Lellis and his wife. 
Lady Camilla Campellia. The infant had a 
long line of soldier ancestors who bore their 
name worthily, but his father had acquired all 
the vices of the camp, and Lady Camilla 
feared that her son would inherit evil traits 
of character. This fear was intensified by tt 
dream she had before the boy was born, in 
which she saw a child with a red cross on his 
breast, followed by a multitude of other chil- 
dren wearing the same crimson sign. 

With a troubled heart she watched Camillus 
develop into a restless, quarrelsome rover, 
whose one desire was to join his father in a 
soldiering career. The mother died when the 
boy was twelve years old, and after a few 
years of compulsory schooling Camillus 
realized his desire. At nineteen he was the 
associate of the most lawless youth of the 
time, a gambler and a soldier of fortune. 
His father exercised no restraint over him 
and regarded him as a comrade. Together 
they fought for friend or foe. Christian or 
Turk, as chance offered. 

Giovanni fell ill on one of those forays ana 
died at the home of a kinsman, repenting his 
evil life and making what reparation he could. 
Camillus was deeply moved by his father's 
death and decided to mend his own sinful 
ways. As he journeyed homeward he en- 
countered two Franciscan priests, who 
strengthened his good resolutions. He de- 
cided to go to his uncle, who was a Francis- 
can friar high up in the Order of Gentle St. 
Francis. That wise and holy man soon made 
up his mind that Camillus had no vocation 
to the priesthood and dismissed him. The 
young soldier, embittered, went back to his 
old associations. An open wound in his right 
leg brought him eventually to the hospital of 
St. Giacomo, Rome, where he secured employ- 
ment until his passion for gambling, which he 
imparted to others, caused his dismissal. 
Again he turned to the army and again his 
wild life proved his undoing. Broken in 
health, half starved, ragged. Camillus wan- 
dered about, until a nobleman, touched by his 
wretchedness, gave him work as a laborer on 
a Capuchin monastery that he was building. 
Camillus was no lover of work, and his pride 
rebelled against the lowly occupation, but his 
rdother's prayers must have followed him, for 
the good triumphed. On the feast of the 
Purification, February 2d, the young man 
made his final choice. Forevermore he would 
follow Christ. The resolution was valiantly 
kept. Twice he was rejected by the Ca- 
puchins, after a trial, because of the unhealed 
wound in his leg, and each time he sought 
refuge in St. Giacomo Hospital. 

Here he proved so efficient that he was 
made superintendent of the wards and out of 
his labors and the neds of those he served 
came the determination to spend his life in 
caring for the bodies and souls of men. To 
fulfill such a mission most perfectly Camillus 
decided to be a priest. So at the age of 
thirty-two and with scarcely the rudiments of 
an education he entered the junior classes in 
a Jesuit college in Rome and patiently applied 
himself to elementary studies. "You have 
come late," said a rude youth to the tall, un- 
gainly man who was his classmate. The gibe 
was unheeded by Camillus, but the master re- 



' buked the boy sternly and predicted to the 
! class that the elderly student would yet ac- 
complish great things for the church. 

March IS, 1586, Pope Sixtus V confirmed 
the congregation of nurses that Camillus had 
gathered, and on June 26th of the same year 
in another brief ordered that Camillus and 
his companions "should wear as a distin- 
guishing mark of their order a red cross on 
their habits and cloaks." 

About this time Giovanni d'Adamo came 
from Spain to Rome to obtain approval of a 
society of Spanish nurses. The Pope advised 
him to join with the Red Cross nurses of 
Camillus. Adamo was undecided what to 
do until one day he found that the white 
wooden cross he wore had turned red. He 
went at once to Camillus and became a Red 
Cross nurse. 

In 1601 Red Cross nurses of Camillus ac- 
companied Italian troops to recover Canizza 
in Croatia. During the siege some baggage 
was set on fire which burned up everything 
but the red cross sewed on one of the cloaks 
of these "ministers of the sick." This was 
considered such a miracle that the red cross 
was distributed thread by thread among the 
troops. 

Years later, when removing the bodies un- 
der the Church of St. Xinfa, in Palermo, it 
was found that they were decayed, but all 
the red crosses on the habits of the ten nurses 
of Camillus were intact. 

St. Camillus died in 1614, twenty-eight 
years after founding his order of the Red 
Cross nurses, which his mother had seen in a 
dream before his birth. He had established 
during his life sixteen houses and hospitals 
of his order in Italy, and lost 220 of his 
nurses while attending the numerous plagues 
and wars of that time. Philip IV introduced 
the order into Spain. Father Andreas Sicli 
of Palermo traveled to Mexico, Peru, and 
Brazil to introduce the order into South 
America. Father Perez of Castile, after being 
superior of the Red Cross order of Spain, 
brought the order to Lima where he died on 
August 15, 1770. Thus Mexico and South 
America of the North American continent had 
three Red Cross nurses of Camillus a century 
[ and a half before our own age created a 
similar order for the care of the wounded of 
all nations. 

Many societies of both sexes undertaking 
the work of nursing get a member of the or- 
der of St. Camillus to bless the red cross they 
wear, in order to emulate the work of the 
founder of the Red Cross nurses. The 
nursing order of St. Francis, 200 of whom are 
in attendance at the well-known Mayo hos- 
pital in Rochester, Minnesota, wear the red 
cross of Camillus on their breasts in hospitals 
everywhere. And still there are writers on 
"The Origin of Red Cross Nurses" who never 
heard of St. Camillus de Lellis. 



In view of the fact that Siam is taking 
part with the great powers in the world war, 
it has been thought right to add a color to 
the flag, namely dark blue. The national 
flag will have dark blue in the centre occu- 
pying one-third of the ground, and on either 
side a white and a red stripe, each of these 
stripes occupying one-sixth of the ground. 
The colors therefore will be red, white, dark 
blue, white, red. 



In Europe, where the ownership of an au- 
tomobile is a symbol of wealth and social 
prominence, it is the usage to buy from the 
manufacturer only the chassis, having the body 
built to the owner's specifications by some 
house of body specialists. 



The RoumantanlCourt. -^ 

The Roumanian court speaks English, even 
when en famiUe, so that one's first feeling 
is that one is in England. The king, of whom 
so little is known (for the best of reasons: 
that he is a silent man except at home), gives 
the impression of one of the kindest-natured 
men one has ever met — handsome, and look- 
ing ten years younger than his age. His face, 
in repose, shows indelible lines of anxiety 
which the war has stamped on it, but he al- 
ways meets you with a smile. M. Albert 
Thomas, who came out on an official mission 
to Roumania, put the feeling into words. He 
said to me (writes a correspondent in the 
London Observer) : "Cela m'est egal s'il est 
Roi . . . c'est un bien brave garcon, et je 
raime." I told the king and he laughed and 
answered : "It is curious ; I never met any 
one I felt such a sudden sympathy for." 

When one thinks of the great struggle King 
Ferdinand must have gone through when he 
broke with the traditions of a lifetime and 
severed all his family ties, one instinctively 
acknowledges the greatness of the mind of the 
king which was able so to submerge the man 
for the good of his adopted country, and to 
shoulder a responsibility which he fully 
realized. He was not allowed to forget it, 
and, at the crown council in Bucharest, where 
for the first time he spoke, and his words 
were "to declare war on Austria and Ger- 
many," one of his pro-German ministers faced 
him across the council table and deliberately 
called down what was as near a curse as can 
be invoked in modern times: "May your 
majesty's armies be beaten in the field, and 
may I live to see the day!" 

The second time the king spoke was at 
Jassy, when he gave the land to the peasants 
as a reward for their heroism in the field ; 
and the third time, also at Jassy, when he 
promised the franchise to the Jews after the 
war ; and what King Ferdinand promises he 
fulfills. His people call him "Ferdinand the 
Faithful." 

Personal grief has not been spared the royal 
house, for the baby, Prince Mircea, died just 
before the flight from Bucharest, and the 
family life had centred round the child. 

The queen has woman's greatest asset in 
life : beauty- It is not that, however, but her 
delightful nature that charms one. Used to 
an absolutely happy life, surrounded by 
luxury, never having come close to tragedy, 
she has grasped her nettles of public and pri- 
vate grief in a firm hand and holds them. 
Such griefs do not pass quickly, though the 
lips smile. Queen Marie is at this moment 
working day and night on the front, often 
under fire, stopping in peasants' cottages 
(there is nothing else to stop in), passing in 
her motor on impossible roads from hospital 
to hospital in all weathers, eating impossible 
food, and returning, worn out, to begin again 
next day. She carries comforts for the men, 
if, by chance, a wagon has got through from 
England, and if not (which is often the case 
in the present state of Russia), just by her 
presence and endurance gives courage to her 



men to hold on for her sake. Again the 
voice of the people has spoken, and she has 
been christened by them "Sainte Marie." 

The Crown Prince, from a boy, has become 
a man in a few months, doing a man's work, 
organizing canteens, supervising construction 
of shelters behind the lines, drilling his 
troops, racing his motor from point to point 
where he is most needed (he is his own 
chauffeur). The Princess Elisabeta and 
Mariorara work in the queen's own hospital, 
and when I say "work" I mean it. No fine- 
lady fiddling this, but a steady dressing of the 
wounded, day after day ; always the same 
suffering round of pain, and little that the 
palace can give to alleviate it, for the palace 
is destitute of even its own necessities. Miss 
Milne, an Englishwoman, who has been with 
the royal family for years, accompanies the 
princesses and takes her full share of the 
same work. Even little Princess Ileana, 
eight years old, starts off with her English 
nurse every day to carry her basket of bread 
or cigarettes to some hospital, and does it on 
foot, too, for there are not enough motors to 
go round. 

Prince Nicholas is seen in his tiny motor, 
driving himself alone in and out of the 
heavy war traffic of convoys of guns and am- 
munition that are forever passing down the 
narrow, cobbled main street of Jassy. His 
scout's uniform is familiar to every soldier 
in the country, for he accompanies his father 
on visits to the front. 

All the royal family got accustomed to 
bombs in Bucharest, where thirteen fell on 
the house and garden where the children had 
been put for safety. Our enemies were well 
informed of all their movements by traitors 
from within. 

On Christmas Day I lunched at the palace 
and was amazed to see a plum pudding (for 
there was nothing in Jassy, I knew, to make 
one with). I looked mutely at the queen, who 
replied to my unasked question: "The dinner 
is a present from Russia ; it arrived just in 
time. I can assure you we don't eat like this 
even- day." And, seeing my husband stoically 
refuse a second helping, she turned to the 
butler, saying : "Wrap the rest up in a paper 

and give it to ." Much protesting, but 

very pleased, he carried it away under his 
arm. When I left she gave me a big bunch 
of mistletoe with the words: "It's all I have 
to give you this year, but we have tried to 
keep a little Christmas, even at this bad mo- 
ment." 

I envy the Roumanian people their rulers. 
Many are the stories that will be handed down 
over the wood fire in Roumanian villages of 
the great retreat to Moldavia, and how the 
royal family came to them and worked with 
them behind the lines, holding out courage 
and help in both hands with a smile. 



Mrs. Crawford — Did your husband surprise 
you with a present at Christmas ? Mrs. Crab- 
fhau* — No, he didn't. I told him exactly what 
I needed, and he was mean enough to go and 
get it for me. — Life. 




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48 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 19, 1918. 



THE ALLEGED HUMORISTS. 

"Let"s go to church." "It's raining too 
hard." "Well, let's "go to the movies : it's only 
four blocks further." — Life. 

Mrs. Willis — They say your husband comes 
home at all hours of the night. Mrs. Gillis — 
No ; only the late ones. — Town Topics. 

She— Do you think that people are less ro- 
mantic and imaginative after they are mar- 
ried? He — I don't know about the romantic 
part of it, but if they are going to try to ex- 



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plain everything they've got to be more im- 
aginative. — Boston Transcript. 

Lcnnic — Does Agnes wear her skirts short? 
Millie — Oh, a few inches above two feet. — 
Town Topics. 

"Blinks seems to lead a very happy married 
life." "Yes. His wife can darn, but she can't 
knit." — Buffalo Express. 

Mistress — I am not quite satisfied with 
your references. Maid — Neither am I, but 
they are the best I could get. — New York 
Globe. 

She — I suppose you saw some close things 
at the front. He — Rather! There was Mc- 
Dougall of our battalion — think he was the 
closest. — London Ideas. 

"Are the people who are coming this week- 
end of any social prominence, mother?" 
"Dear me, no, child! They are all your 
father's friends." — Life. 

Casey — Finnegan got his life insured last 
June an' he's dead so quick. Cassidy — Sure, 
he must have had a pull wid de insurance 
company. — Boston Transcript. 

"How does your boy like life in the army?" 
"Not particularly well. He says he's been in 
it six weeks now and hasn't once been ordered 
to do something glorious." — Detroit Free 
Press. 

"No pretty girl ever sits by me on a car," 
complained the man who fancied himself 
slighted. "Show some enterprise," advised 
the hustler. "Sit down by them." — Louis- 
ville Courier-Journal. 

Jack (in a whisper) — Say, I am almost sure 
this pretty girl on the other side of me nudged 
me with her elbow just now. Mack — Aw, for- 
get it. Don't you see she is just knitting? — 
Florida Times-Union. 

Harry (just "out") — Listen, Bill ! Sounds 
like ole Fritz comin' over in the mud — squish 
squash, squish squash. Bill — That's orl right 
— that's only the Americans further up a- 
chewin' their gum rations. — London Opinion. 

"An Eskimo wears the same suit of clothes 
all the year round." "I've heard so," replied 
the man with the shiny coat sleeve. "Some- 
times I'm tempted to move way up north 
where that sort of thing is fashionable." — 
Washington Star. 

"This law is a queer business." "How so?" 
"They swear a man to tell the truth." "What 
then ?" "And every time he shows signs of 




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doing it, some lawyer objects." — Louisville 
Courier-Journal. 

"Why did you vote for prohibition?" 
"Well," replied Senator Sorghum, "after try- 
ing both, I decided that a thirst isn't as bad 
as a headache." — Washington Star. 

"Ike," said Mrs. Partington, "how do they 
find out the distance between the earth and 
the sun ?" "Oh," said the young hopeful, 
"they calculate a quarter of the distance, and 
then multiply by four." — Houston Post. 

Sergeant — You've fallen out of line not less 
than five times. You should not be in this 
regiment at all. Recruit — Where should I be? 
Sergeant — In the flying corps, and you'd only 
have to fall out once. — London Opinion. 

Recruiting Officer (testing eyesight) — Take 
this newspaper and read it. Recruit — What 
for? You don't suppose I'm going to have 
time in a battle to sit down and read the 
leading articles, do you? — Cleveland Leader. 

"I understand your servant has notified you 
that she is going to quit work." "Not ex- 



actly," said Mrs. Crosslots. "She hasn't been 
working to speak of for some weeks. Now 
she has announced that she doesn't intend 
even to associate with us." — Washington Star. 

"Mr. Sorrell proposed to me, mother." 
"And j'ou accepted . him, I hope." "No, 
mother. I could never love a man with red 
hair." "But, my dear girl, you should con- 
sider the fact that he has very little of it." — 
Boston Transcript. 

"I often think," she said, "that women are 
more courageous than men." "I know they 
are," he replied. "Where is there a man who 
would have the courage to pull out a mirror 
and doll himself up before a crowd in a res- 
taurant ?" — London Opinion. 

"I suppose a fellow ought to have a good 
deal of money saved up before he thinks of 
marrying?" "Nonsense ! I didn't have a 
penny when I started, and I'm getting along 
fine now." "That so? Installment plan?" 
"Yes, and we've only been married and keep- 
ing house for a year, and I've got the engage- 
ment ring paid for already." — Dallas News. 




The Argonaut. 



Vol. LXXXII. No. 2131. 



San Francisco, January 26, 1918. 



Price Ten Cents 



PUBLISHERS" NOTICE: The Argonaut (title trade-marked) is 
published every week by the Argonaut Publishing Company. Sub- 
scriptions, $4.00 per year; six months, $2.10; three months, $1.10, 
payable in advance — postage prepaid. Subscriptions to all foreign 
countries within the Postal Union, $5.00 per year. Sample copies 
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interior supplied by the San Francisco News Company, 747 Howard 
Street, San Francisco. Subscribers wishing their addresses changed 
should give their old as well as new addresses. The American 
News Company, New York, are agents for the Eastern trade. The 
Argonaut may be ordered from any News Dealer or Postmaster in 
the United States or Europe. Special advertising rates to publishers. 

Address all communications to The Argonaut, 207 Powell Street, 
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to "The Argonaut Publishing Company." 

Entered at the San Francisco postofhce as second-class matter. 

The Argonaut can be obtained in London at the International 
News Co., Breams Building, Chancery Lane; American Newspaper 
and Advertising Agency, Trafalgar Square, Northumberland Ave- 
nue; and at Daws Steamship Agency, 17 Green Street, Leicester 
Square, and can be ordered from any of the news-stands of VV. H. 
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Brentano's, Fifth Avenue and Twenty-Seventh Street. In Chicago, 
Weetern News Company. In Washington, at Adams' News Agency, 
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The Argonaut is on sale at the Ferry Station, San Francisco, 
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southern Pacific boats and trains. 

Telephone, Kearny 5895. Publication office, 207 Powell Street. 
WILLIAM J. MILLIKEN, Business Manager. 



FORTY- FIRST YEAR. 



ALFRED HOLMAN ------- Editor 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

EDITORIAL: Mr. Hearst's "Restoration" Project— Dr. Gar- 
field's Order — Senator Stone Removes the Lid — A Fic- 
tion and Its Consequences — The Country Grows Im- 
patient 49-51 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 51 

THE THEATRE OF WAR. By Sidney Coryn 51-52 

INDIVIDUALITIES: Notes About Prominent People All 

Over the World 52 

OLD FAVORITES: "To the End," by Christina Georgina 
Rossetti; "The Love-Knot." by Nora Perry; "Auld Robin 

Gray," by Lady A. Lindsay 52 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: William Cabell Bruce Writes Two 

Volumes of a Critical Study 53 

l:lSINESS NOTES 54 

THE PEN-WIPER: A Story of Naval Officers 55 

CURRENT VERSE 55 

THE LATEST BOOKS: Critical Notes — Gossip of Books and 

Authors — New Books Received 56-57 

A FLAME ATTACK: How French Soldiers Protected Them- 
selves with Mud 57 

DRAMA: The Orpheum; The Psychological Liar; "The Foul 

Refiner." By Josephine Hart Phelps 58 

FOYER AND Bt >X-OFFICE CHAT 59 

VANITY FAIR: Women Pacifists— Godmothering the Soldier 

— Primitive Jokes 60 

COURTESY AMONG AIR WARRIORS 60 

STORYETTES: Grave and Gay, Epigrammatic and Otherwise 61 

THE MERRY MU.-E 61 

PERSONAL: Notes and Gossip — Movements and Where- 
abouts 62-63 

THE ALLEGED HUMORISTS: Paragraphs Ground Out by 

the Dismal Wits of the Day 64 



Mr. Hearst's " Restoration " Project. 

There is that in the suggestion of restoring the 
ruined cities of France which challenges a whole 
Itrood of fine sentiments. The spirits of sympathy 
and charity are instinctively enlisted. Yet in this, 
as in other projects of this troubled time calling 
for expenditure of energy and material resource, it 
will he the part of wisdom to take stock of con- 
ditions — to Stop. Look. Listen ! It must be borne in 
mind that the first necessity is to win the war. To this 
supreme end all other projects and motives should be 
subordinated. It is a business obviously calling for 
all the initiative, all the energy, all the material re- 
source that this country in cooperation with its allies 
can muster and put forth. Any diversion of force, in 
wiiatever form it may be embodied, will in the existing 
posture of affairs be a mistake. 

But there are other considerations. The desolated 
region of France is at this very hour in dispute be- 
tween contending armies. A considerable part of it 
has been redeemed in the sense that it has returned to 
military possession of the Allies. But the greater part 
remains in the hands of the enemy. All — and more — 



is subject to future chances of war. Only a month ago 
a considerable region round about Cambrai was taken 
from the Germans, only to be recaptured by them. The 
anticipation, of course, is that the line of enemy occu- 
pation will recede, but this is a hope rather than an 
assurance. Common prudence therefore suggests that 
no expenditure be made in the way of restoration with- 
in areas and regions still subject to the fortunes of war. 
Again, it is to be borne in mind that the damage done 
was illegitimate even under the hard rules of war: 
therefore it is due in equity and under the law of na- 
tions that Germany shall ultimately pay the bill. 
Money expended now in the spirit of fraternity and 
charity may in the final account only be subtracted from 
indemnities due from the invader. 

We have also to consider the circumstances and con- 
ditions under which this restoration project is pre- 
sented to the people of the United States. It comes 
obviously out of time, and quite as obviously from 
calculations of self-interest. It is designed less in the 
spirit of sympathy than in the spirit of exploita- 
tion. The purpose is first of all, not to aid a stricken 
people, but to exploit the Hearst newspapers. A 
favorite device of sensational journalism, if the Hearst 
type newspaper may be styled journalism, is to keep 
in the air some "movement" cunningly planned to 
excite humanitarian sympathies, but to the practical 
end of advertising and otherwise promoting a news- 
paper interest. Thus we have "drives" for prohibition, 
for woman suffrage, for public ownership, or for what- 
ever fad may for the moment hold public attention. 
In these various "drives" there is far less of the spirit 
of human sympathy than of the calculations of cold- 
blooded business. This is conspicuously so in the im- 
mediate instance. 

The supreme issue, we repeat, is the war. All our 
initiative, all our energy, all our financial resource, we 
repeat, should be given to this end. All other con- 
siderations are subordinate and relatively trivial. It 
will be time enough to clear up the debris of war when 
the war itself shall have been put into the background. 



Dr. Garfield's Order. 

The only possible defense of Dr. Garfield's order 
shutting down the industries of the country rests upon 
a condition for which Dr. Garfield himself is chiefly 
responsible. Expert and competent dealing with the 
factors of coal production, of labor, and of transporta- 
tion might easily have avoided a problem which made 
some sort of radical action imperative. The first mis- 
take was in fixing the price of coal at a level so low as 
to prevent the reopening of many old workings and to 
limit the production of mines in operation. Another 
mistake was that of backing the demands of mine labor 
for higher pay and shorter hours, thus establishing a 
condition under which multitudes of slackers declined to 
work more than three or four days out of each week. 
Still another mistake — for which the Administration 
rather than Dr. Garfield is responsible — was that of 
balling up transportation by conflicts of preference 
orders. If sixty days ago the Administration had abol- 
ished the privilege of preference orders and, under its 
war powers, had suspended all restrictive laws in rela- 
tion to transportation, concurrently employing for gov- 
ernment work an expert traffic manager, there would 
have been no difficulty in getting coal from mine to 
consumer. Executive delinquency, for which Dr. Gar- 
field on the one hand and the Administration on the 
other must share the blame, is clearly responsible for 
a condition which had become serious to the degree of a 
crisis. 

Reviewing the Garfield order after its execution is 
obviously pothering with burnt powder. The thing is 
done and there's an end of it, excepting as it may serve 
as a mischievous precedent. It has relieved a desperate 



situation. Yet there are many, and among them leading 
experts of the country, who hold that relief might have 
come through less drastic — and less costly — means. To 
a man of academic methods of thought, and without 
knowledge and experience of practical affairs, the 
shutting down of industry for a brief period no doubt 
seemed a simple expedient. To him it meant five days 
lost time — nothing more. He reckoned not at all of 
practical conditions which include disturbance of 
working organizations, aggravation of differences be- 
tween employer and employed, and the personal distress 
entailed upon multitudes who live from week to week 
upon current wages. He reckoned not at all upon the 
fact that in very many instances the fuel cost in days 
of shut-down is greater than in days of actual opera- 
tion. These considerations, vital as they are, and as 
they are known to be by practical men. are precisely 
of a kind to escape the attention of an academic 
theorist. 

The plain truth of the matter is that Dr. Garfield was 
not and is not the man for the special responsibility 
committed to him. Amiable and well intentioned he is 
without doubt; and a scholar unquestionably. But a 
man whose chief experience has been in the academic 
sphere, whose mind is adjusted to theories as distinct 
from facts, is not a man for business administration 
The coal director should be a man accustomed to 
handling concrete problems. He should be familiar 
with the working side of production, of dealing with 
men and of dealing with transportation. He should, in 
brief, be a practical man. The mistake of Dr. Garfield's 
selection is akin to many another in the present or- 
ganization of the government. There is fundamental 
misconception behind a policy which employs a man- 
aging politician as an ambassador, a college president 
as a coal director, a financial promoter as a director 
of transportation, and which retains in time of war at 
the head of great departments of government men 
chosen upon political considerations and for the rela- 
tively simple duties of times of peace. 



Senator Stone Removes the Lid. 

From a partisan of the Administration, speaking 
in the Senate of the United States, there comes re- 
assertion of the mediaeval doctrine that the king can do 
no wrong ! Nobody must question the wisdom and the 
discretion of the government. . Nobody must mark its 
failures. If small and incompetent men rattle around 
in large places, if great projects collapse at the point 
of performance through inefficiency, if our men shiver 
and die in the training camps for want of the com- 
mon necessities and comforts of life, if billions of 
public money are thrown to the winds, if confusion 
usurps the place of order and paralysis that of energy, 
we must still with complacent smile? maintain that all 
is well. This is the logic of Senator Stone, who speaks 
as a partisan of the Administration — a logic against 
which various other senators, including members of 
the President's own party, stand in open and defiant 
protest. 

Since our formal entrance into the war in April no- 
body has wished to put a straw in the way of the Ad- 
ministration. On the other hand everybody has desired 
to support fully and cordially the efforts of the govern- 
ment. Until Senator Stone, partisan and friend of the 
Administration, raised the issue by his speech in the 
Senate on Monday there has been no partisan or other 
effort of obstruction. Of course the eyes of practical 
and sensible men have not been shut. They have suf- 
fered chagrin when Mr. Wilson has seemed to regard 
the war as his own private enterprise. They have in- 
wardly grieved at his failure to reorganize his cabinet 
by substitution of men of ability, experience, and estab- 
lished responsibility for the group of narrow parti-: 
at the head of the several departments. With ' 



50 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 26, 1918. 



they have ohserved the scandals of the Shipping Board, 
the conflicts of authority, the hundred inadequacies and 
wastes due to lack of grasp, lack of experience, lack 
of judgment, lack of energy, lack of business method. 
They have resented the failure to employ the expert 
talent and the trained competence of the country in 
administrative duties. But they have restrained their 
tongues less in patience than in grieved toleration. 
Now that the President's own friends and partisans 
have raised the issue, we shall expect such presentment 
and discussion of administrative policies as may inform 
the country and arouse the spirit which alone can win 
success. 

That the Administration is not fairly and efficiently 
meeting the necessities of the time, that we have failed 
deplorably in the essential business of preparing ade- 
quately and promptly for the war, that we are scan- 
dalously dissipating our resources — all this is painfully 
in evidence. It is of a part with that most colossal 
of blunders, namely, our failure to prepare when it was 
evident that we were being forced into the war. It 
proceeds from the same basis of political calculation, 
of academic aloofness from practical considerations, of 
overweening confidence in partisan and private friends, 
of deficiency in appraisement of men, of jealousy of 
possible rivals, of colossal conceit and colossal stub- 
bornness of mind. 

The proposal on the part of Senators Chamberlain, 
Hitchcock, and others, political partisans of the Ad- 
ministration, to bring order out of chaos by creation of 
a special war council or war cabinet, comes none too 
soon if we are to play the part in the war to which we 
stand pledged and if we are to meet the legitimate and 
proper expectations of our allies. Just as it has called 
for restraint on the part of Republican leaders in Con- 
gress to wait upon the slow and blundering move- 
ments of the Administration, so it has called for 
courage on the part of those partisans and friends of 
the Administration who have at last been goaded 
to action. They have the rights of the situation; 
there is no question or doubt as to that. There is 
need, and imperative need, of reorganization at Wash- 
ington, to the end of efficient and honorable partici- 
pation in the great business before us. They come 
none too soon and they speak none too emphatically. 
If the Administration can not or will not create an 
efficient administration of the war, then Congress must 
under its high responsibility take to itself such measure 
of powers as lies within its authority and its duty. 

Nobody, we suspect, will charge the Argonaut with 
an undue bias in favor of Mr. Theodore Roosevelt. 
We retract nothing ever said in these columns in 
respect of his faults of character. Now as in the 
past we abominate his noisy egotism, his bad man- 
ners, his looseness of method, his unrestrained vio- 
lence with respect to whoever or whatever opposes 
him. But nobody in his senses, not blind and deaf 
under the prejudice of partisanship, will deny to Mr. 
Roosevelt high character as a patriot or great powers 
of moral appeal. Not even his severest critics will 
deny to him the credit of infinite personal courage. 
With all his defects he compares at all points of char- 
acter as daylight to darkness with "Gum-Shoe Bill" 
Stone, who on the floor of the Senate on Monday 
arraigned him as a helper of the Kaiser and as an 
enemy of his country. 



A Fiction and Its Consequences. 

Mr. Daniel Willard, president of the Baltimore and 
Ohio Railroad and chairman of the advisory commis- 
sion of the Council of National Defense, let fall a sig- 
nificant phrase in the course of his testimony before 
the Senate Military Committee last week. Mr. Willard 
served as chairman of the advisory commission from 
December, 1916, to March, 1917, a period when it was 
evident that we were being forced into the war. The 
advisory commission was made up of business men and 
the avowed purpose of the organization of which it 
was a part was to "mobilize industry." Yet in his 
testimony Mr. Willard declared that the advisory com- 
mission and the Council of Defense was merely a 
"peace organization" ; that it gave no attention to actual 
preparation for war until war was upon us. 

Mr. Willard's testimony is a significant count in the 
indictment of a general policy which made no prepara- 
tion or war -even at a time when war was known to 
e i »vitable. To maintain an outward consistency 
with kept us out of war" politics we were permitted 



to go into war as ill-prepared as if we had not for 
nearly three years been hearing of nothing but war 
and under multiplied suggestions enforcing the ne- 
cessity of war. Our present situation is the natural 
result of this policy, of a policy which ignored or de- 
nied facts, which pigeon-holed warnings 'founded in 
facts, and which in the face of common sense and com- 
mon prudence held the course of government to a fatal 
line of conduct. 

The full meaning of it all — of what it has done to us 
and to our allies — is revealed by the findings of the 
current congressional investigations. We are paying 
today in lives and money, in lives unnecessarily sacri- 
ficed to pneumonia, meningitis, and other diseases 
growing out of want of forethought and preparation, 
in money being wasted or going to fatten the purses of 
speculators and profiteers. We have lost months of 
time, we are involved in financial obligations running 
into billions, because little men in big posts thought it 
necessary to sustain the politics embodied in the 
formula "kept us out of war." 

And still the Administration refuses to be instructed. 
It seeks to pull away from every movement to grappie 
with problems of the time in straightforward and 
vigorous fashion. When it is suggested that the ad- 
ministrative organization be strengthened by replacing 
weak men with strong men, when it is proposed to es- 
tablish a comprehensive system of military training, 
when it is urged by practical men that the administra- 
tive departments be coordinated and the system of 
purchase of supplies be centralized, the Administration 
sets its face in protest. In contempt of experience, in 
the face of confusion and extravagance, undismayed 
by failure, the Administration insists upon maintaining 
the business of organizing and supplying the war with 
the same agents and under the same practice as in times 
of peace. 

The Country Grows Impatient. 

At a time when all other countries in the war are 
seeking to strengthen their administrative organizations 
the United States alone is neglecting to employ its men 
of demonstrated efficiency and of established public 
confidence. At a time when other countries are seeking 
to build up their reserves in anticipation of an indefinite 
period of warfare, we are making no adequate plans 
for the future. In the face of a disheartening lack of 
coordination of powers and forces we are pluming our- 
selves upon achievements as yet theoretical and ques- 
tionable. Obsessed by the notion that it has done 
wonders before it has really done anything in the way 
of actual participation in the business of fighting, our 
Administration is floundering about in confusion and 
dissipating its powers in conflicts of cross-purpose. 

The situation in the War Department developed by 
congressional investigation has not in the least dis- 
turbed a complacency which shuts its eyes to distress- 
ing facts, sits calm, assured, and satisfied while men 
in our training camps, minus guns, minus adequate 
clothing, minus sanitation, are suffering and dying of 
cold and disease. The Secretary of War sits cocky 
and smiling before the Senate Committee on Military 
Affairs and fences after the fashion of an adroit poli- 
tician, asserting that all is well when there is multiplied 
evidence that much — very much — is ill. He compro- 
mises with the alien enemy peril; he resists the estab- 
lishment of a business system ; he denies the need for a 
ministry of munitions; he resents proposals of a mili- 
tary policy or of legislation looking to the creation of a 
reserve personnel for our armies ; he refuses to accept 
any of the lessons of past blunders. It is not surprising 
that even such ardent partisans of the Administration as 
Senators Chamberlain and Hitchcock grow impatient 
with an unteachable fatuousness and a boundless self- 
sufficiency. 

For what is amiss — and very much is obviously amiss 
— the mediocre men at the head of great departments, 
amateurs all in the business of governmental adminis- 
tration, would have the country believe that Congress is 
to blame. But the record does not condemn Congress. 
On the other hand it exhibits Congress as answering 
with surprising readiness the many demands made upon 
it. Congress has up to now practically subordinated 
partisan motives. Republicans in both houses have co- 
operated promptly and cordially in meeting the require- 
ments of the Administration. Congress provided in 
the army bill of last year everything that was asked of 
it in the way of military reorganization. It accepted 



the principle of the draft with scarcely a murmur of 
question or protest. It gave to the President the au- 
thority and power of a practical dictator. It swallowed 
whole the administrative revenue scheme, questionable 
though it was and is at many points. It has provided 
money reckoned in billions of dollars. If there be any 
just criticism of Congress it rests less upon its restraint 
of the Administration than upon its too ready accept- 
ance of administrative projects. It ill becomes the 
head of the War Department or of any other depart- 
ment to call Congress to account for delinquencies 
plainly proceeding from an overstrained confidence in 
and a generous support of administrative projects. 

We are a people of infinite patience. Our disposition 
is and has been all along to support the government 
without question, to supply its needs without stint, to 
accept its plans, to fortify it materially and morally. 
But a strain is put upon patriotic spirit when we ob- 
serve the President's trust in small and untrained men, 
his disinclination to accept the service of demonstrated 
administrators ready and willing to serve, when we see 
great projects like that entrusted to the Shipping 
Board going wrong through incompetence, when we 
see our drafted men suffering and dying for lack of 
common comforts and safeguards, when everywhere we 
see extravagance and waste and when in connection 
with all these things we find ourselves at the end of 
ten months only just limping into the war. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



From an Appreciative Reader. 

Colorado Springs, January 14, 1918. 
To the Editor — Sir: I have been reading the Argonaut 
regularly for the last twenty-five years and have always ad- 
mired its sturdy and fearless treatment of public questions. 
It is the only paper I know of that has not been afraid to 
come out plainly and place responsibility exactly where it 
thought it belonged. I am impelled to write this letter to 
you in light of your editorial in the issue of January 12th, 
"A Vital and Timely Issue," and other similar ones in recent 
issues. 

This country needs great papers like the London Times, 
which has never been afraid to criticize any one in public 
life, no matter what the station of the individual may be, 
so long as it thinks it is right and that the criticism is for 
the public welfare. The things this paper has done in calling 
attention to what should be and must be done and which 
were not being done in England to win the war are well 
known, and the tremendously increased efficiency thus brought 
about in England is also well known and thoroughly appre- 
ciated in England. 

You have not been afraid to bring your criticisms pre- 
cisely where they belonged, directly on the President, Mr. 
Wilson, for his presidential campaign carried on on his "kept 
us out of war" platform, when he knew, as you say, that war 
on our part was inevitable. In this as in his cabinet and 
practically all he has done he seems to have been guided first 
by political expediency. This is no time for partisan politics, 
and the Republican members of the Senate and House have 
been broad-minded enough to recognize this and have been 
Americans first and given the Administration their full and 
hearty cooperation in all that pertained to the conduct of 
and preparation for the war. It is a very big business and 
calls for big broad patriotic treatment and a manner of con- 
duct with but one aim, prompt and vigorous success. Any 
head of a big business who carried on its affairs in the in- 
efficient way so many of our war preparations have been 
carried on would be quickly displaced by some one abler and 
more efficient. The war will undoubtedly be won eventually, 
Out these preventable delays in getting ready mean postpone- 
ment of the end and expenditures in lives and money that 
will be vast in amount and which could have been prevented 
by business-like action, regardless of political expediency. 
Mr. Lincoln carried on the war of 1861 without regard to 
politics and Mr. Wilson can well, and in fact must follow 
his example, and soon, if he hopes to hold a worthy place in 
American history. 

As an American citizen I hope you will continue to, as 
you have in the past, criticize what is bad, commend what 
is good, regardless of on whom the criticism may fall, only 
that you feel that you are right. We need more such of the 
Press to inform the public and aid them in forming their 
opinions. 

I am writing this letter as an expression of what I am 
sure is in the minds of many other citizens. 

# J. D. Hawkins. 

Letter from Mr. Horace Annesley Vachell. 
Through the kindness of Mr. J. D. Grant, the Argonaut is 
permitted to publish the following letter received by him from 
an old-time friend, once a Californian — Mr. Horace Annesley 
Vachell, the famous novelist and playwright : 

Eeachwood, Bartley, Southampton, Nov. 11, 1917. 

* * * We are now recovering from the Italian debacle 
and the Maximalist triumph at Petrograd. These calamities 
may prove stepping-stones to a more carefully coordinated 
policy upon the part of the Allies.,. The difficulties and com- 
plexities of such a task are only appreciated by those behind 
the scene. When the true history of this war is published 
the outside world will realize what has been accomplished in 
the teeth of conflicting interests which seemed impossible 
to reconcile. I am sure that you personally pay no attention 
to the absurd attacks recently leveled against our admiralty. 
Our navy has performed in silence and secrecy prodigies of 
valor. One item alone makes one gasp with amazement — we 
have transported almost without loss 13,000,000 of men ! That 
doesn't look as if the "Nelson touch" had vanished, does it? 
I notice that certain American newspapers have been saying 
that England has allowed her colonials to bear the brunt of 
the fighting. The answer to that is conclusive. England has 
suffered seventy-five per cent, of all the casualty. 

I rejoice to think that this country and America are at last 
partners and friends. Do you remember our flagstaff at 
Arley, which Stanford gave to Frank McCoppin ? [The refer- 
ence here is to a ranch in San Luis Obispo County, where the 



January 26, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



51 



writer and a group of his British friends lived for several 
years.] We wanted to fly the Union Jack from it. You, if 
my memory doesn't fail me, advised us more wisely, so we 
flew the Stars and Stripes. The future of civilization now 
lies beneath those two flags. May they wave above us — 
and forever and ever, Amen ! 

It seems quite likely that this war may now go on for a 
couple of years. And how is the bill going to be paid? Con- 
scription of capital is inevitable. That means dislocation of 
industries. Many are predicting an income tax of ten shillings 
in the pound. Will this strangle enterprise? I don't think 
so, because love of enterprise is racial in my country and 
yours. I am sure that the big money-makers work for pres- 
tige rather than for dollars. 

It is impossible to exaggerate the moral effect on this coun- 
try of America coming in. Our loss of Russia is swamped in 
this tremendous gain. We are beginning to feel the pinch of 
restricted supply. We are living upon rations and cars can 
only be used in the public service. But I have heard no 
complaint. Before the war demagogues prattled about the 
luxury of the famous clubs. At my two clubs, the Garrick 
and the Athenasum, we are living strictly within the allow- 
ances. I have looked over the mess sheets of both clubs 
and find that the members consume less meat, bread, and 
sugar than is permissible. 

I have always been an optimist and I believe with absolute 
conviction that as an empire we shall come out of this welter 
stronger, more united, and purged to finer issues. Much 
that was hateful and base has been swept away. In the ava- 
lanche some things that you and I valued, perhaps unduly, 
have been obliterated. The people who have been hit hardest, 
hit so hard that I fear they can never recover, are the country 
gentlemen who lived quietly on their own estates, the squires 
in England. Increased taxation has ruined them. All of 
them lived up to moderate income, between two and four 
thousand a year. They spent their money amongst their own 
tenants and ruled fairly well and wisely as you know. Their 
little reign is over. The British officer, as you and I knew 
him, has gone, too. The British maiden of the better class, 
the rather prim, modest, reserved girl who lived in the country 
happy and content with the blinds down between herself and 
everything offensive in life, has disappeared. There has been 
tremendous leveling up and down. 

I am glad that I am alive in such times, and I hope to live 
long enough to see the after-war problems solved satisfactorily. 
One thing is certain — the idle rich in this country simply are not. 
The rich have worked as hard as the poor, men and women. 
An entirely new world is rising above the horizon. In that 
world, after the war, the rich will be poorer and the poor 
richer, something unknown in history. 

There will be no premature peace. I don't think that Eng- 
land as a nation feels vindictive. I never hear anybody 
talking of vast indemnities. But there is a grim determina- 
tion to secure a peace that will be lasting. 

We have had wounded Tommies here in this house ever 
since the war began. Some hundreds have passed through 
our hands. Many have been victims of nerve shock, but not 
one so far as I know has weakened upon the fundamental 
proposition of sticking it out to the end. 

Write me — often as you can. A letter from California 
brings back the smell of sage and tar weed. 

Affectionately, Horace Annesley Vachell. 



Our Army in France. 

It has been supposed in this country that however de- 
fective the equipment of our training camps, ample and even 
generous provision has been made fpr our troops already in 
France. But there has come a sudden awakening in the re- 
ports of careful observers now being given through New 
York newspapers, more particularly in the Tribune. Late last 
year the Tribune commissioned Mr. Caspar Whitney, the 
well-known writer and, until our entrance into the war, a 
member of Mr. Hoover's staff in Belgium, as its special cor- 
respondent in France. Mr. Whitney was so affected by con- 
ditions there that on his own initiative he has returned to 
bring to the American people an uncensored message. 
Prefacing the first installment of his report, Mr. Whitney de- 
clares that his purpose is threefold : ( 1 ) To endeavor to 
eliminate bungling in our war preparations; (2) to insist upon 
the replacement of incompetence and red-tape with efficiency 
and clear vision in the main arteries of our war-making 
machine; (3) to impress upon the American people the full 
depth of their own responsibility for disquieting revelations. 
There is for us, he points out, but one consideration perti- 
nent or tolerable, namely, the care and the effectiveness of 
our fighting force in France, that we may fulfill our obliga- 
tions to our allies and to our soldiers. "Half-measures," he 
declares, "will not suffice; the trouble is too deeply seated. 
Switching incompetents from one office to another will not 
repair bungling. When the lives of our men and the suc- 
cess of our cause are the issue there can be no doubt of the 
course we should take." 

From the first installment of Mr. Whitney's report we ex- 
cerpt the following. Parenthetically it is pertinent to remark 
that the information supplied by Mr. Whitney in detail goes 
far to explain the determination of Senator Chamberlain, 
Mr. Roosevelt, and others to enforce reorganization and thus 
to speed up the war : 

It is a jolt to hear American efficiency, as represented by 
the U. S. A. supply and transportation service, referred to in 
France as a "joke" ; but it is a severer jolt to discover the 
multiple causes which have given it currency. 

For five months, at the date of which 1 write (December 
25th), the American troops had been in France, and the 
showing of its supply and transportation service is as follows: 

FIVE days' advance rations. 

SHORTAGE of shirts and ponchos. 

NO reserves of heavy shoes to replace the lighter ones, 
which were not adapted to service in France and have not 
worn well ; or of clothing which is not warm enough, and, 
as to overcoat, ill suited to trench work. 

NO rubber boots, and already a few cases of "trench feet," 
that strangely crippling development of this war, are appear- 
ing. Trench feet — and ive as yet only playing at war! 

NO hats. There were really sixty-five. 

NO woollen socks, except those furnished to the hospitals 
by the Red Cross. 

NO machine guns or reserves of rifles. 

NO artillery save that got from the French, and much of 
the rifle and all of the artillery ammunition drawn from the 
French and the British. 

NO labor with which to complete cantonments — French sol- 
dier labor having been loaned for those already built — and 



permanently establish the line of communication between the 
sea and the American sector. 

'Tis not a picture to kindle our pride, but is it not one to 
lift us out of our complacency, to give us fear for the inepti- 
tude that menaces the health and the military fitness of our 
soldiers? 

And with the army thus suffering through supply and trans- 
portation shortage, I found the warehouses of the Red Cross 
in France comfortably stocked (although an entire trainload 
of provisions had just been sent to Italy) with beans, rice, 
condensed milk, canned beef and some sugar, for the service 
of their canteens in the French army (where they are doing 
fine and needed work) — and motor truckage enough for their 
requirements. Each buys in the same market; each is 3000 
miles from its base; each dependent on the same transatlantic 
service. The government, through its quartermaster depart- 
ment, has, of course, advantage in the open market or in the 
bid for cargo space; but the Red Cross is managed by busi- 
ness men on business principles. That's the answer to the 
otherwise incomprehensible situation of the army being with- 
out reserves of needed supplies, while the Red Cross has full 
warehouses, though it is furnishing 25,000 meals a day through 
its canteens. 



THE THEATRE OF WAR. 

I am asked why I am unwilling to believe that Germany is 
transferring large bodies of men from the eastern to the 
western fields, and that a great German offensive in France 
is imminent. Perhaps I might successfully counter by asking 
my correspondent why he does believe these things, for it 
seems to me that the weight of probability is on my side. 
But to some extent he gives reasons for his gloomy fore- 
bodings. He says that they are based on a "general expecta- 
tion," that all German newspapers are in full agreement as 
to the efforts that are to be made in the immediate future, 
and that the best-informed correspondents in France speak 
constantly of the reinforcements that are being sent from 
Russia. Why should these reinforcements be sent he asks, 
except for the purposes of an offensive ? 



Now personally I would much rather believe than disbelieve 
in a German offensive. I do not hope that there will be no 
offensive, but I am afraid that there will be none. If the war 
is to be won by attrition, it is to the interest of the Allies 
that the Germans should be tempted to attack as often as 
possible, and at as many points as possible. The German 
offensives toward Calais and Verdun were of immeasurable 
damage to the German cause, and we may believe that the 
German preponderance in men and munitions was then much 
greater than it is likely to be now. At the time of the Calais 
offensive the Germans had twice as many men as the English, 
and five times as many guns, but they could not save them- 
selves from calamity. We do not know the exact figures at 
Verdun, but they were certainly to the advantage of the Ger- 
mans, and yet, once more, the battle of Verdun was ruinous 
to the assailants. At the present time the German strength 
on the eastern front is much inferior to that of the Allies. 
It would still be inferior if Germany were to transfer every 
man that she now has on the eastern front, exclusive of 
Austrians, Bulgarians, and Turks. It is true that this esti- 
mate, which is based on a total present German strength of 
5,500,000 men, does not coincide with some alarmist statistics 
now in vogue. None the less it is easy to compute the number 
of males between the ages of eighteen and fifty contained in 
any population of 68,000,000. The proportion holds good 
throughout civilization, and the number of such males is 
always about 9,000,000. These figures were analyzed last 
week, and it need not be done again. They fully justify the 
belief that Germany can not now have more than 5,500,000 
men under arms, of which 2,000,000 are in France and 1,500,- 
000 in Russia, the remainder being in Asia, Macedonia, on 
the Italian front, and on lines of communication. If Ger- 
many were to bring the whole of her Russian army to France 
she would then have 3,500,000 men there, as against 4,000,000 
of French and British. If she could comb out another half- 
million from communications and depots the rival forces 
would then be of equal size, and it need hardly be said that 
a great preponderance is necessary for an attack upon forti- 
fications. 

That Germany will bring Austrians, Bulgarians, and Turks 
to the western field is always a possibility, but it is not a prob- 
ability. Austria has her hands more than full in her Italian 
operations. Bulgaria is notoriously unwilling to send her men 
away from her own immediate field of war, and she has ap- 
parently incurred the animosity of the Germans on that ac- 
count. And the Turkish armies are being hard pressed by 
the British advance from Egypt and the Persian Gulf. The 
Italian front will demand more and not less men from Austria 
as the Allies proceed to push the advantages accruing to them 
from the weather. In the event of an entire cessation of 
danger to the Germans on the eastern front — and this is not 
yet even dimly in sight — it would then be possible for the 
Germans to transfer a million of their own men and perhaps 
a million Austrians, and this would give them a parity of men 
with their enemies. No more than this could be done under 
any conceivable circumstances. Indeed, such an eventuality 
is so far away as to be invisible. But an equality of men 
would give her no chance of success. She must have a large 
preponderance. It is practically impossible that Germany 
should withdraw a million men from the east. It is even 
more impossible that she should secure a million Austrians. 
The situation in Russia has become more and not less dif- 
ficult for her than it was a week ago. The Allies have won 
distinct successes on the Italian front, and this must increase 
the difficulties of the Austrians on that field. Where, then, 
can Germany obtain the men for an offensive that shall be 
undertaken with any hope of success? Certainly she shows no 
signs of increased strength. It is true that the actions of the 



last week or so have been small, but none the less they may 
serve as indices. On the western front we find a French 
attack in the Vosges which resulted in the capture of Ger- 
man trenches, a reverse frankly admitted in the German bul- 
letins, although they describe it as "temporary" — presumably 
a comfortable attempt at prediction. The Italians and the 
French have won a marked success around Mount Tomba. 
The English have carried out raids across the Piave, and the 
Italians have won ground on the lower Piave. If reinforce- 
ments have reached the western and Italian fronts from the 
east it is at least evident that their strength has not yet 
made itself felt. But it is probably the fact that no such rein- 
forcements have been sent, or only in such small numbers as 
to be insignificant. 

The correspondent of the New York Times with the French 
armies, who seems to be particularly well informed, gives us 
detailed information as to the transfers from the eastern 
front. He believes that Germany had seventy-five divisions in 
Russia, and this would be a million and a half of men, the 
number that I have already suggested in a -previous para- 
graph. He enumerates the men that have been withdrawn 
from the various divisions, and he says that they amount to 
75,000. But even this does not necessarily imply a shifting 
of the balance of strength, since he suggests that men of the 
class of 1919 are being sent to Russia to take the place of 
those withdrawn. This would be an increase in value rather 
than in numbers for the western front. Colonel Repington, 
of the London limes, takes somewhat the same view. He says 
that an actual peace with Russia would permit the transfer ot 
750,000 men, including Austrians, which is very much less than 
the number I have given as the utmost possibility. But 
Colonel Repington adds that only about 100,000 men have 
actually been moved from east to west, which is in substan- 
tial agreement with the New York Times correspondent. And 
it does not necessarily follow that all these men have been 
sent to the west. Some may have been sent to Italy, to Meso- 
potamia, or to Macedonia. For these reasons it is hard to find 
any substantial ground for the belief in a German offensive 
in the west. It seems to be no more than one of those ex- 
pectations launched by Germany herself and for her own aims. 
That Germany should try to strengthen herself in the west 
is reasonable enough without resort to the supposition of a 
new offensive. That she was not strong enough to resist the 
Allied attack in Flanders, on the Ailette, and the Chemin des 
Dames, was made obvious enough by the events of last sum- 
mer. That she is not strong enough to resist the attacks that 
are now being brought from time to time is equally obvious. 
She knows that major operations will certainly be resumed 
as soon as the weather shall permit. Naturally she is availing 
herself of the Russian situation to place herself in a position 
of more effective resistance. It is not very much that she 
can do in that direction while events in Russia continue 
to be threatening. But that she aspires to a western offensive 
of her own is improbable. 



Not satisfied with the conviction that vast bodies of troops 
are being transferred from the eastern front we are now 
asked to believe that the Austrian armies will be withdrawn 
from the Trentino in order to participate in the Teuton flood 
that is about to be let loose on France and Flanders. Our 
newspapers are printing maps with eloquent and disquieting 
little curved arrows to represent the passage of Austrian 
armies from the north of Italy to the east of France. Almost 
anything of a military nature seems simple enough when it is 
indicated on a four-inch map, but we may be sure that the 
Austrians would be vastly pleased if they had the power to 
move their armies with the ease ascribed to them by the map- 
maker. Now these Austrian armies in the Trentino are frozen 
to their positions. Winter was slow in coming, but it has 
come at last. All the mountain passes are deep under snow. 
The Austrian army is connected with its northern base by a 
single railroad line, and that railroad line is normally buried 
under nine feet of snow. Unless the army is to starve it must 
keep that line clear. Transport by road is now out of the 
question. It is still more out of the question to withdraw 
the army over a single railroad, and with its enormously 
heavy artillery. Half our misconceptions of the war are due 
to a vague impression that armies are moved from place to 
place in very much the same way that a tourist boards a 
train and sits comfortably until he has reached his destina- 
tion. Even in America, which is thousands of miles from the 
fighting lines, we are now in the midst of something like a 
railroad paralysis due to our efforts to move a relatively 
small number of men and their supplies. The Teutons have 
more men in the Trentino at the end of that single snow- 
blocked railroad, and amid the most frightful weather condi- 
tions, than America is likely to put into the field for some 
long time to come. They have the heaviest artillery that 
exists, and they have munitions, hospitals, and wounded. 
That army went into the Trentino during the summer, when 
it could use the passes and the roads as well as the railroad. 
It confidently expected to reach the Venetian plains and to 
leave the mountains behind it long before the advent of 
winter, but it would now be about as easy to move the moun- 
tains themselves to the western front as to move that army. 
And yet we are asked to believe that it will forthwith be 
transferred to France and that all we need do is to consult 
Baedeker to ascertain when it is likely to arrive. 



The Austrian army in the Trentino is not now a Teuton 
asset. It is a Teuton liability. Even if the weather would 
allow of its retreat we may be sure that the Italians would 
not. The Italians, be it remembered, are on the plai 
mainly so, and moreover they have an admiralk 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 26, 191S. 



railroads at their rear. Even if the Austrians should be able 
to retreat from the Trentino it is extremely unlikely that 
they would consider it wise to do so so long as they can 
maintain themselves there, seeing that this would leave their 
Piave army unsupported and at the mercy of the Italian?. It 
was because the Austrians attacked in two directions at once 
that they were able to establish themselves in their present 
positions. But for maintaining their threat of invasion from 
the Trentino they could not have attacked on the Isonzo. If 
they should now evacuate their Trentino lines, they must 
evacuate their Piave lines also, and so leave Italy altogether. 
This they certainly have no intention to do if they can pos- 
sibly avoid it. It would be a failure so unmistakable as to 
be calamitous. But the Italians now have their opportunity. 
They need pay no further attention to the Trentino armies 
during the continuance of winter. Those armies can neither 
advance nor retreat. But the Italians can attack the Teuton 
armies on the Piave, where the weather conditions do not 
interfere. And. as we have seen, they are already doing so. 
and are likely to do so much more earnestly before the 
spring shall enable the Trentino forces to come once more 
into action. They have already driven the Austrians from 
the western bank of the Piave, and there is every indication 
that they intend to follow up this advantage, Austrian pris- 
oners taken in the attack on Mount Tomba — and the pris- 
oners taken were more numerous than the attackers — were in 
a pitiable condition of cold and hunger, and eye-witnesses tell 
us that they cheered their captors and execrated their few 
German associates. To look upon the Italian situation as in 
abeyance until the summer shall allow operations to con- 
tinue where they left off is a great mistake. The Teuton 
armies there are now in very great danger. Their fighting 
force has been reduced by one-half — by the extent ot their 
army in the Trentino — while the Italian force is intact, and 
can be used against the other half of the Teuton army on 
the Piave. Xothing is more likely than that we shall hear 
momentous news from the Italian front before the end of 
the winter. Italy will take the place of Russia as a counter- 
poise to the western war, and the Allies are likely to see to 
it that she is equipped and stimulated to that end. 



INDIVIDUALITIES. 



Events in Russia are still chaotic, but certainly they are not 
shaping themselves to German advantage. Indications are 
increasingly clear that the Bolsheviki do not intend to sur- 
render Russian territory, but whether this is due to patriotism 
or to a fear of their own people we may determine for our- 
selves. But if these events point to a certain unexpected 
solidarity on the part of Russia, they seem to speak even 
more clearly of a division of counsels in Germany. Indeed 
the signs of German disintegration grow constantly more 
unmistakable. Reports from neutral countries — always to be 
received with caution — say that the emperor empowered Count 
Czernin to offer peace without annexations or indemnities, 
and that his almost immediate revision of his plan under the 
frantic protests of the Pan-Germans was responsible for Von 
Kuhlmann's writbings and duplicities in regard to Poland. 
Socialists all over Germany, including the so-called loyalists, 
seem to have joined forces in denunciation of the Brest- 
Litovsk proceedings, which first offered the prospect of an 
immediate peace with Russia, and that then seemed to promise 
no more than a prolongation of the struggle under new and 
more frightful conditions. One thing at least is evident — 
the Germans are showing a much greater interest in the 
negotiations than the Russians, who act as though they had 
the whip hand and with an attitude almost of condescension. 
Naturally it would be so. Russia has nothing to gain by- 
ending the war with the loss of Poland. Xothing worse 
than this could happen to her under any circumstances. By 
asserting her intention to abandon nothing, and asking the 
Germans blandly what they propose to do about it, she places 
herself in a position of considerable strength, since the last 
thing that Germany can wish is war against a nation en 
masse. News from Russia is so incomplete that it is prac- 
tically impossible to form a clear idea of what is actually 
transpiring. But certainly a Russian peace is not yet in sight- 
There is nothing so far in sight which offers Germany the 
opportunity to withdraw her armies or to strike the name of 
Russia from her list of enemies. Sidney Coryx. 

Sax Francisco, January 23, 191S. 



The birth rate of 1916 in France is estimated by the 
French authorities as only eight per 1000, and at the 
same time the death rate has undoubtedly increased, and 
is over twenty per 1000, quite aside from the deaths 
occurring from military operations. It is pointed out 
that in 1914 the population of France was 39,500,003. 
and that at the beginning of the war the excess of 
births over deaths was about 50,000 annually. In 1916 
the deaths in the civilian population totaled 700.000. 
and in the military forces 400.000. a total of 1.100.000. 
The number of births in France in 1916 was 312.000, or 
788.000 fewer than the number of deaths. For purposes 
of comparing conditions in this country with those in 
France it is pointed out that in Xew York State the 
birth rate is twenty-four per 1000. and the death rate 
fourteen in each 1000. 



Of late a printing press capable of handling four 
separate jobs at once, and feeding stock that varies in 
thickness from thin tissue to four-ply cardboard, has 
been introduced in this country. It is said to do three- 
color process work as well as cylinder presses, and pro- 
solid tints that show no mottling. It will turn out 
2500 to 3200 impressions an hour, the speed de- 
luding, of course, upon the class of work in hand. 



Dr. Sun Yat Sen. who is again to the fore in China 
as generalissimo of the South China Republicans, is a 
dapper, well-dressed Europeanized Chinaman, of spare 
figure, modest and reserved in conversation, and with 
nothing in his address that indicated the leader and 
inspirer of men. He is no orator, but excels in plain 
and forcible statement of facts. 

General Korniloff, the leader of one of the anti-Bol- 
sheviki factions in Russia, is under the average stature 
of his soldiers. There is in his dark face something of 
the Calmuck or the Mongol — in the marked cheek 
bones, the narrowness of the eyes, the sparse, dark 
moustache and scanty beard, but he is full of the fire 
of genius; every inch of him is finely tempered steel. 
He is in his forty-seventh year. 

Charles H. Randall, the California congressman who 
was one of the leaders in both the suffrage and the 
prohibition fights in the House of Representatives., is a 
Xebraskan with a common school and journalistic edu- 
cation who. soon after he settled in Los Angeles, be- | 
came identified with the progressive civic forces of 
that community, later served on its park commission, 
and then in the state legislature. 

Fraulein Dr. Marie Elisabeth Liiders. who after en- 
gaging in social work in Belgium under the German 
administrative authorities, was intrusted by the War 
Office with the organization of women's work in Ger- 
many, has now been appointed professor in ordinary 
for social policy at the newly founded Leopold's Acad- 
emy at Detmold. She is the first woman professor in 
ordinary to be appointed in Germany. 

Olga Petrova. the actress and noted film star, was 
born in Warsaw, of Russian-Polish parents. Her child- 
hood was passed principally in Brussels. Paris, and 
London. As she reached womanhood she moved in 
fashion circles — how fashionable may be guessed from 
the circumstances of her theatrical debut. It was in the 
private theatre of the late Marquis of Anglesey, where 
she played opposite the marquis, a thespian dilettante, 
for mutual friends. 

M. XabakorY. who succeeded Count Beckendorff as 
Russian Charge d' Affaires in London, is a stanch ad- 
herent of the new regime in Russia. His brother is 
editor of the Liberal paper Retch. M. Xabakoff has 
lived in England for several years, and is well ac- 
quainted with English affairs. He was councillor at the 
embassy for some time before taking up his present 
appointment. He. together with Count Witte. took part 
in the peace negotiations at Portsmouth. U. S. A., at 
the close of the Russo-Japanese war. 

Russia's Bolsheviki premier, Lenin, is said to be a 
man who sees life only from the angle of his own ideas. 
Even in 1917. as in 1905. and after the overthrow of the 
Romanoffs at a time when such a possibility was a mere 
dream, he can not acquiesce in the cooperation of revo- 
lutionary Socialists with representatives of other par- 
ties. It is his creed that all liberals are cowards and 
traitors, and that the salvation of Russia can only come 
from a dictatorship of the workingmen and the peas- 
ants, achieved by an armed revolution. 

Rear-Admiral Samuel McGowan. U. S. X., at the 
head of the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts, is the 
business administrator of the United States Xavy. He 
is a South Carolinian who graduated from the Uni- 
versity of South Carolina at Columbia and entered on 
a civilian career. Xot until 1894, with his experience 
as a business man back of him, did he enter the navy : 
and then as an assistant paymaster. Four years later 
he was paymaster: seven years after that a pay in- 
spector, and in 1914 he was made paymaster-general 
of the navy, with the rank of rear-admiral. 

Baron Reading. England's chief justice, whose un- 
official name is Rufus Isaacs and who was born in 
1861. received most of his education in the university 
of the world. He studied at University College School 
in London, and later at Hanover, but he soon went to 
sea. and thereafter spent his time in his father's pro- 
duce business until he became a member of the London 
Stock Exchange. His career at the bar was brilliantly 
successful and he became one of the most famous ad- | 
vocates of his day. Like many other barristers, he had 
his lean years to begin with, and he had been called ten 
years before he reached the front rank. His forensic 
triumphs make a long catalogue. For a dozen years 
there was hardly a single cause eclebre in which he did \ 
not appear. 

Henry L. Stimson. former Secretary of War and 
member of Roosevelt's famous "kitchen cabinet." has 

volunteered for service in the reserve corps of the 
judge-advocate general. "Tattler" says of him in the 
Xatiou: "Stimson is a large man in everything ex- 
cept stature. His height is modest, his build sturdy 
but slight, his face a narrow oval, his coloring dark, 
and his general air young in spite of the gray that has 
crept into his hair and moustache. He has the mouth 
of one who talks little and the brow of one who thinks 
a good deal. His manner is as businesslike as his un- 
obtrusive attire, and his eyeglasses accentuate the 
sharpness of his clearly chiseled profile. He does not 
'slop over.' even when addressing an audience known 



to have a vivid taste in language : but when he starts 
after an object on his own initiative, whether it be a 
skulking sinner or a big bear, he never loses sight of 
the trail till he reaches the end of it." 

OLD FAVORITES. 



pluck 



To the End. 

I wonder if the Angels 

Love with such love as ours 
If for each other's sake they 

And keep eternal flowers. 

Alone I am and weary. 

Alone yet not alone: 
Her soul talks with me by the \ 

From tedious stone to stone, 
A blessed Angel treads with me 

The awful paths unknown. 



If her spirit went before me 

L"p from night to day. 
It would pass me like the lightning 

That kindles on its way. 
I should feel it like the lightning 

Flashing fresh from Heaven: 
I should long for Heaven sevenfold more. 

Yea and sevenfold seven: 
Should pray as I have not pray'd before. 

And strive as I have not striven. 

She will learn new love in Heaven, 

Who is so full of love ; 
She will learn new depths of tenderness 

Who is tender like a dove. 

Her heart will no more sorrow, 

Her eyes" will weep no more: 
Yet it may be she will yearn 
And look back from far before : 
Lingering on the golden threshold 

And leaning from the door. 

— Christina Georgina Rossetti. 



The Love-Knot. 
Tying her bonnet under her chin, 

lied her raven ringlets in; 
But nol alone in the silken snare 

i;er lovely floating hair, 
g her bonnet under her chin. 
;d a young man's heart within. 

They were strolling together up the hill, 

the wind comes blowing merry and chill; 
it blew the curls, a frolicsome iace, 
r lie happy, peach-colored face, 

ing and laughing, she tied them in. 
Under her beautiful dimpled chin. 

And it blew a color, bright as the bloom 
Of the pinkest fuchsia's tossing plume. 
All over the cheeks of the prettiest girl 
; ever imprisoned a romping curl. 
ing her bonnet under her chin. 
Tied a young man's heart within. 

Steeper and steeper grew the hill. 
Madder, merrier, chillier still 
The western wind blew down, and played 
The wildest tricks with the little maid. 
As. trying her bonnet under her chin. 
She tied a young man's heart within. 

<_) western wind, do you think it was fair 
To play such tricks with her floating hair? 

gladfully, gleefully do your besi 
To blow her against the young man's breast. 
Where he as gladly folded her in, 
And kissed her mouth and her dimpled chin'r 

Ah. Ellery Vane, you little tin ug 

An hour ago. when you besought 

This country lass to walk with you. 

After the sun had dried the dew. 

What perilous danger you'd be in. 

As she tied her bonnet under her chin ! 

+ — Xora Perry. 

Auld Robin Gray. 
When the sheep are in the fauld, and the kye at hame. 
And a' the world to rest are gane. 
The waes o' my heart fa' in showers frae my e'e. 
While my gudeman lies sound by me. 

Young Jamie lo'ed me weel. and sought me for his bride : 

But saving a croun he had naething else beside : 

To make the croun a pund, young Jamie gaed to sea; 

And the croun and the pund were baith for me. 

He hadna been awa' a week but only twa, 
Wnen my father brak his arm. and the cow was stown awa . 
My mother she fell sick, and my Jamie at the sea — 
And auld Robin Gray came a-courtin' me. 

My father couldna work, and my mother couldna spin : 
I toil'd day and night, but their bread I couldna win : 
Auld Rob maintain'd them baith, and vvi" tears in his e'e 
Said. Jennie, for their sakes, O, marry me ! 

My heart it said ».ay; I look'd for Jamie back: 

But the wind it blew high, and the ship it was a wrnck : 

His ship it was a wrack — why didna Jamie dee? 

Or why do I live to cry. Wae's me ? 

My father urgit sair : my mother didna speak ; 
But she look'd in my face till my heart was like to break: 
They gi'ed him my hand, but my heart was at the se.-. ; 
Sae Auld Robin Gray he was gudeman to me. 

I hadna been a wife a week but only four. 
When mournfu' as I sat on the stane at the door, 
I saw my Jamie's wraith, for I couldna think it he 
Till he said. I'm come hame to marry thee. 

sair, sair did we greet, and muckle did we - 
We took but ae kiss, and I bad him gang away ; 

1 wish that I were dead, but I'm no like to dee; 
And why was I horn to say. Wae's me ! 

I gang like a ghaist, and I carena to spin : 
I daurna think on Jamie, for that wad be a sin; 
But I'll do my best a gude wife aye to be, 
For auld Robin Gray he is kind to me. 

— Lady A. Lindsay. 



fANUARY 26. 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 

♦ 

William Cabell Bruce Writes Two Volumes of a Critical Study. 



Benjamin Franklin excites the admiration of the 
world, not because he could do one thing well, but 
because he could do so many things well, and because 
his quality was equally admirable in the small as in 
the great. He handled the affairs of nations with the 
same fluent skill that he directed toward some me- 
chanical device for copying his letters. He signed the 
Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Alliance 
between the United States and France, the Treaty of 
Peace between the United States and Great Britain. 
and the Federal Constitution. He wrote books that 
have been read continuouslv the world over, and he 
became renowned as an electrician and an inventor. He 
shone in all classes of society and he found something 
to admire in them all. It was said of him that he was 
alike the best of Americans, the best of Frenchmen, 
and the best of Englishmen. 

The two volumes of biography issued by William 
Cabell Bruce may be taken as now the best available 
source of information concerning Franklin. Strictly 
speaking they are not a biography, for they are not in 
continuous narrative form, and for this we may thank 
the literary gods. Mr. Bruce prefers to deal with 
Franklin from the various aspects of his character and 
activities, from the standpoints of his citizenship, re- 
ligion, science, business, literary capacities, and per- 
sonal characteristics. It is an eminently proper way 
in which to study a great man. Certainly it is the most 
pleasing of ways. 

Printing was a laborious occupation in Franklin's 
day: 

The outlook of Franklin was a cheerful, optimistic one, 
and he had no sympathy with pessimists of any sort. Even 
his civic interests came back to him in personal profit, since, 
aside from its public aim, the Junto was a most useful aid 
to the business of Franklin and Meredith. All its members 
made a point of soliciting patronage for the new printing firm. 
Breintal, for instance, obtained for it the privilege of printing 
forty sheets of the history which the Quakers .published of 
their sect ; the rest having gone to Keimer. The price was 
low, and the job cost Franklin and Meredith much hard labor. 
The work, Franklin tells us, with the fond minuteness with 
which a man is disposed to dwell upon the events of his early 
life, was a folio, of pro patria size, and in pica, with long 
primer notes. Franklin composed it at the rate of a sheet a 
day, and Meredith ran off what was composed at the press. 
It was often 11 at night and later when Franklin had com- 
pleted his distribution for the work of the next day, for now 
and then he was set back by other business calls. So resolved, 
however, was he never to default on his sheet a day that one 
night, when one of his forms was accidentally broken up, 
and two pages of his work reduced to pi, he immediately 
distributed and composed it over again before he went to bed, 
though he had supposed, when the accident occurred, that a 
hard day's task had ended. 

The Gazette under Franklin's management was prob- 
ably the best newspaper produced in Colonial America. 
Its editor's relations with his readers are always of the 
personal kind: 

One of Franklin's favorite devices for filling up gaps in 
the Gazette was to have himself, in the guise of a correspond- 
ent, ask himself questions, and then answer them. "I am 
about courting a girl I have had but little acquaintance with : 
how shall I come to a knowledge of her faults, and whether 
she has the virtues I imagine she has," is one such supposi- 
titious question. "Commend her among her female acquaint- 
ance," is the ready-made answer. Another imaginary question 
was of this tenor: "Mr. Franklin: Pray let the prettiest 
Creature in this Place know (by publishing this), that if it 
was not for her Affectation she would be absolutely irre- 
sistible." Next week a flood of replies gushed out of* the 
editor's pigeon-holes. One ran thus: 

"I can not conceive who your Correspondent means by 
"the prettiest Creature' in this Place ; but I can assure either 
him or her, that she who is truly so, has no Affectation at 
all." 

Franklin was extraordinarily loyal to King George 
so long as loyalty remained a possibility. He admired 
the French king and queen, but he said this should not 
hinder him from believing that his own king and queen 
were "the very best in the World, and the most 
amiable." As late as 1770 he wrote to Dr. Samuel 
Cooper, "Let us, therefore, hold fast our Loyalty to 
our King, who has the best Disposition towards us, 
and has a Family Interest in our Prosperity" : 

Strangely enough it was not until two years before the 
battle of Bunker Hill that he awoke sufficiently from his 
fool's paradise to write to his son, "Between you and I, the 
late Measures have been, I suspect, very much the King's own, 
and he has in some Cases a great Share of what his Friends 
call Firmness." Even then he hazarded the opinion that by 
painstaking and proper management the wrong impression of 
the colonists that George the Third had received might be re- 
moved. Down to this time so secretly had the king pursued 
the insidious system of corruption by which he kept his par- 
liamentary majority unmurmuringly subservient to his system 
of personal government, that Franklin does not appear to 
have even suspected that his was the master hand, or rather 
purse, which shaped all its proceedings against America. 
When the whole truth, however, was made manifest to Frank- 
lin, his awakening was correspondingly rude and unforgiving. 
How completely reversed became the current of all his feel- 
ings toward George the Third, after the Revolution began, 
we have already seen in some of our references to letters 
written by him to his English friends, in which the king, 
whom he once revered, was scored in terms of passionate 
reprobation. 

The treatment ultimately accorded to Franklin by 
thi_- Privv Council and his dismissal from office is a 
part of the history of that day. but Franklin did not 
allow it to weigh upon his mind nor to influence him 
after war broke out : 

That these circumstances made a deep impression upon his 



mind is undeniable, but it was really not until he found him- 
self in America in 1775 that he gave himself up to the con- 
clusion that nothing was to be gained by his remaining longer 
in England. After his removal from office he still counseled 
his correspondents in America to adhere to a policy of patience 
and self-restraint, and in a letter to Thomas Cushing and 
others, written only a few days after the hearing at the 
Cockpit, he termed the destruction of the tea at Boston an 
unwarrantable destruction of private property and "an Act 
of violent Injustice." To all the efforts of Lord Chatham and 
his high-minded associates, after this hearing, to bring about 
a reconciliation between England and America, he lent the 
full weight of his advice and experience. And, when some 
of the members of the British ministry, after it, ashamed to 
deal with him directly, covertly opened up an interchange of 
proposals with him through David Barclay. Dr. Fothergill, 
and Lord Howe, in regard to the terms upon "which a recon- ' 
ciliation might still be reached, he entered into the negotia- 
tions with a spirit singularly free from personal bitterness. 

Another interesting episode recorded by the author i 
was the visit of Franklin to Lord Howe to ascertain 
whether he had anv authoritv to negotiate a treaty of - 
peace : 

Lord Howe seems to have borne himself on this occasion I 
in every respect like a gallant gentleman. When the three J 
members of Congress reached the shore opposite to Staten ! 
Island, after the journey from Philadelphia, which Adams had 
made on horseback, and Franklin and Rutledge in chairs, they I 
found a barge from him awaiting them with an officer in it 
as a hostage for their safe return from the island. Adams 
suggested that the hostage should be dispensed with, and his ' 
colleagues, he tells us, in his grandiose way, "exulted in the f 
proposition and agreed to it instantly." The fact was com- j 
municated to the officer, who bowed his assent, and re- i 
embarked with the Americans. When Lord Howe saw the I 
barge approaching the beach of the island, he walked down | 
to meet it, and the Hessian regiment, which attended him, i 
was drawn up in two lines facing each other. Upon seeing j 
that the officer whom he had sent over to the Jersey shore 
had returned. Lord Howe exclaimed, "Gentlemen, you make : 
me a very high compliment, and you may depend upon it I 
will consider it as the most sacred of things." When the 
party landed he shook hands very cordially with Franklin, and, 
after being introduced to Adams and Rutledge, conducted the 
three between the two files of Hessians to the house where 
the conference was to take place; all four chatting pleasantly 
together as they walked along. Adams, who was far too in- 
tense an American not to hate savagely a Hessian, fresh from 
the cattle-pen of his prince, described these soldiers as 
"looking fierce as ten Furies, and making all the grimaces, 
and gestures, and motions of their muskets with bayonets 
fixed, which, I suppose, military etiquette requires, but which 
we neither understood nor regarded." The house which was 
to be the scene of the conference was dilapidated and dirty 
from military" use. but the apartment into which the Ameri- 
cans were ushered had been hung with moss and branches by 
Lord Howe with such refinement of taste that Adams subse- 
quently pronounced it "not only wholesome, but romantically 
elegant." After reaching it the whole part}', including the 
colonel of the Hessian regiment, sat down to a collation "of 
good claret, good bread, cold ham. tongues, and mutton." 
When the repast was over the colonel withdrew, the table was 
cleared and the fruitless conference began. 

Incidentally we have a good story showing the 
change in Franklin's attitude toward King George : 

To the period when the Committee of Safety was holding 
its sessions belongs a story which William Temple Franklin 
tells us of his grandfather. Some of the more intolerant Penn- 
sylvanians asked the committee to call upon the Episcopal 
clergy to refrain from prayers for the king. "The measure 
[said Franklin, who always preserved his sense of proportion] 
is quite unnecessary ; for the Episcopal clergy, to my certain 
knowledge, have been constantly, praying, these twenty years, 
that 'God would give the king and his council wisdom'; and 
we all know that not the least notice has ever been taken 
of that prayer." 

Franklin was received by revolutionary France with 
extraordinary enthusiasm. He seemed to be the em- 
i bodiment of French revolutionary ideas : 

That Franklin, when he came to Paris as the representative 
of a country which was not only at war with the hereditary 
enemy of France, but had fearlessly avowed general political 
sentiments that France herself was eager to avow, should, with 
his fame, simple manners, and social charm, have excited for 
a time the surpassing enthusiasm which he did is not sur- 
prising; for what the French ardently admire they usually. 
festoon with fireworks and crown with flowers ; but that this 
enthusiasm should have continued, so far as we can see, 
wholly unabated for nine years, is a surprising thing, indeed, 
when we recollect how inclined the fickle populace of even- 
country is to beat in its hour of inevitable reaction the idol 
before which it has prostrated itself in its hour of infatuation. 
While in France Franklin was not simply the mode, he was 
the rage. Learned men from ever}' part of Europe thought 
a visit to Paris quite incomplete if it did not include a call 
upon him. Even the Emperor Joseph, "a king by trade," as 
he once termed himself, intrigued to meet him incognito. 
Among the many letters that he received from individuals, 
distinguished or obscure, who sought to flatter him or draw 
upon his wisdom or treasured knowledge was Robespierre — 
then a young advocate at Arras — who sent him a copy of his 
argument in defense of the lightning rod before the Council 
of Artois. and Marat, who, true enough to his future, was in- 
vestigating the physical laws of heat and flame. In the letter 
to Franklin, by which the copy of his argument was accom- 
panied, Robespierre spoke of Franklin as "a man whose least 
merit is to be the most illustrious savant of the world." To 
have a Franklin stove in its fireplace, with a portrait of Frank- 
lin on the wall above it, grew to be a common feature of the 
home of the wealthier householder in Paris. His spectacles, 
his marten fur cap. his brown coat, his bamboo cane, became 
objects of general imitation. Canes and snuff-boxes were 
carried a la Franklin. Portraits, busts, and medallions of him 
were multiplied without stint. Among the busts were some 
in Sevres china, set in blue stones with gold borders, and 
among the medallions were innumerable ones made of clay 
dug at Passy. 

John Adams gives us an account of the meeting be- 
tween Franklin and Voltaire at the hall of the Academy 
of Science in Paris. It was a meeting with an embar- 
rassing culmination for the American: 

Voltaire and Franklin were both present, and there pres- 
ently arose a general cry that M. Voltaire and M. Franklin 
should be introduced to each other. This was done, and thej 
bowed and spoke to each other. This was no satisfaction ; 
there must be something more. Neither of our philosophers 
seemed to divine what was wished or expected ; they, however. 



took each other by the hand. But this was not enough ; the 
clamor continued, until the explanation came out. "II faut 
s'embrasser, a la Francaise." The two aged actors upon this 
great theatre of philosophy and frivolity then embraced each 
other, by hugging one another in their arms, and kissing 
each other's cheeks, and then the tumult subsided. And the 
cry immediately spread through the whole kingdom, and, I sup- 
pose, over all Europe, "Qu'il etait charmant de voir embrasser 
Solon et Sophocle!" 

Franklin interested himself greatly in the lot of 
American war prisoners in England and wrote manv 
letters of indignant protest to his English friend Hart- 
ley, who disbursed for him the sums of money that he 
raised : 

Correspondingly stern was the rebuke of Franklin for the 
heartless knave, Thomas Digges, equal even to the theft of 
an obolus placed upon the closed eyelids of a dead man as 
the price of his ferriage across the Styx — who drew upon 
Franklin in midwinter for four hundred and ninety-five 
pounds sterling for the relief of the American prisoners, and 
converted all but about thirty pounds of the sum to his own 
personal use. "We have no Name in our Language," said 
Franklin in a letter to William Hodgson, "for such atrocious 
Wickedness. If such a Fellow is not damn'd, it is not worth 
while to keep a Devil." 

The chapter devoted to the scientific achievements of 
Franklin is perhaps as interesting as any in the volume : 

How essentially he was a man of science is demonstrated 
by the fact that, whenever he was on the element, where alone 
he could hope for exemption from the political demands of 
his countrymen, his intellect turned at once with ardor to the 
study of Nature. Old and feeble as he was. he wrote no less 
than three valuable dissertations on his last voyage across the 
Atlantic, one on the causes and cure of smoky chimneys, one 
on his smoke-consuming stove, and a third, distinguished by 
an extraordinary wealth of knowledge and observation, on the 
construction, equipment, and provisioning of ships, and the 
winds, currents, and temperature of the sea : which was accom- 
panied by valuable thermometric tables, based upon observa- 
tions made by him during three of his transatlantic voyages. 
The maritime essay was written with the closest regard to 
detail, and contains such a mass of information and luminous 
comment as has rarely been condensed into the same space. 

Franklin's experiment to discover if lightning-laden 
clouds were actually charged with electricity- is now so 
familiar as almost to obscure the dramatic nature of the 
first trial: 

It was performed when a thunder gust was coming on in a 
field near Philadelphia with such simple materials as a silk 
kite, topped off with a foot or more of sharp pointed wire. 
and controlled by a twine string, equipped with a key for cast- 
ing off the electric sparks, and ending in a silk ribbon to secure 
the safety of the hand that held it. The whole construction 
is set out in a letter written to Collinson by Franklin shortly 
after the incident, in which with his usual modesty the latter 
describes the kite as if he had had nothing to do with it. 
Something like the feelings of Sir Isaac Newton, when the 
falling apple brought to his ear the real music of the spheres, 
must have been those of Franklin when the loose filaments of 
twine bristled up stiffly and the stream of sparks from the key 
told him that he was right in supposing that the mysterious 
and appalling agency which had for centuries been associated 
in the human mind with the resistless wrath of Omnipotence 
was but the same subtle fluid that had so often lit up his elec- 
trical apparatus with its playful corruscations. 

Franklin's scientific observations usually had a trend 
toward the increase of human comfort and well-being: 

Not only his temperament, but his general mental attitude 
was instinctively scientific. As we have seen, while White- 
field's other auditors were standing mute and spellbound, he 
was carefully computing the distance that the words of the 
orator would carry. As we have also seen, when his soldiers 
were cutting down the giant pines of Gnadenhutten, he had 
his watch out. deep in his observation of the time that it took 
them to fell a tree. When his friend. Small, complained of 
deafness he wrote to him that he had found by an experi- 
ment at midnight that, by putting his thumb and fingers be- 
hind his ear. and pressing it out and enlarging it as it were 
with the hollow of his hand, he could hear the tick of a 
watch at the distance of forty-five feet which was barely 
audible at a distance of twenty feet without these aids. Even 
in his relations to the simplest concerns of life he had always 
the eye of a man of science to weight, measure, dimension, and 
distance. If any one wishes to see how easily he reduced 
everything to its scientific principles, let him read Franklin's 
letter to Oliver Neave, who thought that it was too late in 
life for him to learn to swim. With the confidence bred by a 
proper sense of the specific gravity of the human body as com- 
pared with that of water, Franklin said there was no reason 
why a human being should not swim at the first trial. If 
Neave would only wade out into a body of water until it came 
up to his breast and by a cast of his hand sink an egg to the 
bottom, between him and the shore, where it would be visible, 
but could not be reached except by diving, and then endeavor 
to recover it, he would be surprised to find what a buoyant 
thing water was. 

All of these extracts are taken from the second vol- 
ume of a work that has uniform excellence and uniform 
interest. 

Bex jam ix Fraxklix. By William Cabell Bruce. 
In two volumes. Xew York: G. P. Putnam's Sons: $6. 



One result of the taking of German Southwest Africa 
by the South African Union troops has been the dis- 
covery that, instead of its being largely a barren wild. 
it contains much good land suitable for cultivation and 
grazing. In a recent speech Sir Thomas Watt, a raem- 
1 er of the South African Union ministry, said that in- 
stead of finding it a desert he found good land in the 
conquered territory, with wonderful grasses, a deal of 
2 itation, tat cattle, splendid horses, and first-class 
j sheep, and he gained the impression that it onlv re- 
quired money and energy under British occupation to 
make it "a land of milk and honey." 



Statistics issued by the Irish department of agri- 
culture show a great decrease in the number nf pigs 
in Ireland for the past two years. Up to Oct ' 1°17. 
a decrease of over 50,000 is shown compar 
same period in 1916. 



54 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 26, 1918. 



ESTABLISHED 1S5! 



SUTRO 



CO. 



Investment Brokers 

AND DEALERS IX HIGH GRADE 

SECURITIES 

T1ELDING FROM 

4y 2 % to 7% 

DETAILED INFORMATION" UPON REQUEST 
INQUIRIES INVITED 

410 Montgomery St. - S. F-, Cal. 



BUSINESS NOTES. 

Bank clearings for the week ending Satur- 
day, January 19th, as reported by the San 
Francisco Clearing-House Association, aggre- 
gated $111,600,130.99, as compared with $90,- 
958,996.35 in the corresponding week of 1917. 



elusions are that the following rates are neces- 
sary for this purpose : 

Banking — Pet 

States west of Mississippi River S 

States east of Mississippi River 6 

Mercantile 10 

Mining 10 

Industrial 10 

Oil-producing companies 15 

Oil-refining companies 10 

Contracting and construction companies 15 

Public utilities 8 

Railroads 8 

Light and power companies 3 

Electric railways 8 



Reporting as of January ISth, the Federal 



McDonnell & 


CO. 


Announce 




the removal of their main office 


the new 




San Francisco Stock and Bond 


Exchange Building 




335 MONTGOMERY STREET 


Garfield 1920 





Reserve Bank of San Francisco shows gold 
reserves as against net deposit and note cir- 
culation of 70.94 per cent. 



War credits extended to foreign govern- 
ments since the United States entered the 
war total $4,236,400,000. Of this Great 
Britain received $2,045,000,000; France, 
$1,285,000,000; Italy, $500,000,000; Russia, 
$325,000,000; Belgium, $77,400,000; Serbia, 
$4,000,000. 

Par value of shares of stock has had some 



McDonnell & Co. were advised Saturday 
that a cargo of raw sugar consigned to the 
Savannah Sugar Refining Corporation was 
afloat and scheduled, to arrive at the port of 
delivery within a few days. This means that 
the corporation's big modern plant, which was 
closed down some time ago, will reopen. A 
fair margin of profit will be allowed the cor- 
poration under government ruling. 



E. F. HUTTON & CO. 

Home Office, 61 Broadway 

Branches : 

WOOLWORTH BUILDING 

PLAZA HOTEL 

NEW YORK 



MEMBERS: 
New York Stock Exchange 
New York Cotton Exchange 
New Orleans Cotton Exchange 
Liverpool Cotton Association 
Chicago Board of Trade 



CALIFORNIA OFFICES: 

490 California Street 

St. Francis Hotel 

Bond Department, 343 Powell Street 

San Francisco 

First National Bank Building 

Oakland 

118 West Fourth Street 

Alexandria Hotel 

Los Angeles 

Hotel Maryland 

Pasadena 



Through Private Wire 
California Points to New York 



The trade figures of the United States for 
1917 show some curious contrasts when com- 
pared with 1913, the year preceding the war. 
Imports from Europe show a fall of over 
$300,000,000, those from South America an in- 
crease of about $400,000,000, from North 
America a gain of nearly $500,000,000, from 
Asia and Oceania an increase of approxi- 
mately $500,000,000, and from Africa an in- 
crease of nearly $50,000,000. On the export 
side the increase to Europe is about $2,500,- 
000,000, to North America over $500,000,000, 
to South America about $150,000,000, and to 
Asia and Oceania a gain of about $300,000,- 
000. 

The par value of the railroad investment 
of the United States is roughly $20,000,000,- 
000. It is estimated that on this, for the 
year ending December 31, 1917, the earnings 
above all operating expenses, rentals, taxes, 
and interest charges will be $560,000,000. 
This would be over 4 per cent, on the $20,- 
000,000,000. It is to be remembered that 
before this $560,000,000 was reached all fixed 
charges had been deduced, in other words 
that sufficient had been made to maintain the 
solvency of the roads as a whole and a mar- 
gin of over 4 per cent, created against share 
capital. 

A form of preparation for government pur- 
chase is the valuation of the physical proper- 
ties of the railroads, which has been going 
slowly forward the past two years. So far 
it has accomplished little. The appraisals 
given have been on small roads in whose 
financial structure there was obviously the 
element of over-capitalization, or "watering." 
But there have been no valuation figures 
turned in of properties where the cash paid 
in is well established and where valuations 
reported by well-known engineers have shown 
that the reproduction cost would exceed the 
bond and share capital. 

Just what would be the offer by the gov- 
ernment to holders of notoriously over-capi- 
talized roads it is hard to say. Such holders 
could not expect the sympathy for entertain- 
ing a speculative venture that was given the 
individual who has taken the known facts 
and on them based an investment. 



of their government survived the period of 
recuperation from the cost of that war. 
When France's needs were supplied, they 
turned to other standard securities. That is 
what the government's financial experts pre- 
dict will happen in the United States. There 
will be fewer American securities held abroad 
in the future and the money formerly sent 
out of the country each year in the form of 
interest and dividend payments will go into 
the pockets of the new type of American 
bondholders. 

In the Anglo and London Paris National 
Bank's advertisement last week a typograph- 
ical error was made. The bank's deposits on 
December 31, 1917, were $71,042,256.58, in- 
stead of $17,042,256.58 which appeared in the 
advertisement- The Anglo London and Paris 
National Bank is one of the strongest finan- 
cial institutions in the West. 



The value of the mineral production of 
Alaska in 1917 is estimated at $41,760,000, 
exceeding that of any previous year except 
1916, which was $48,632,000. The decrease in 
1917 was therefore about $6,870,000. During 
thirty-three years of mining Alaska has pro- 
duced over $391,000,000 worth of gold, silver, 
copper, and other minerals. 



attention from the Treasury Department dur- 
ing the last year, in connection with the Fed- 
eral tax on capital stock taken at its fair 
value. The department has now published its 
conclusions regarding the net earnings cor- 
porations engaged in different kinds of busi- 
ness must make in order to have their stock 
worth its par value. The department's con- 



Bond & Goodwin 

COMMERCIAL PAPER 
BONDS 



454 CALIFORNIA STREET 
SAN FRANCISCO 



BObHN 
TOM 



CHICAGO 
MINNEAPOLIS 



SEATTLE 

PHILADELPHIA 



Alaska mines are believed to have produced 
gold to the value of about $15,450,000 in 1917, I 
compared with $17,240,000 in 1916. The total | 
value of the gold mined in the territory is 
now about $293,500,000, of which $207,000, 



000 has been from placers. In 1917 about 
88,200,000 pounds of copper was produced in 
Alaska, valued at about $24,000,000. The pro- 
duction in 1916 was 119,600,000 pounds, valued 
at $29,480,000. The total copper produced to 
date is 427,700,000 pounds, valued at $88,- 
400.000. . 

"Bloated Bondholders" was a term of re- 
proach utilized by demagogues to array class 
against class. That distinction has been wiped 
out by the government's campaigns to finance 
the fight against the Huns. Treasury Depart- 
ment records show that Liberty Bonds are 
now widely distributed throughout the states 
where owners of securities formerly were re- 
garded as special proteges of Sa t a n . This 
new class of investors has discovered that it is 
easy to acquire bonds by making small 
monthly payments. The next step in their 
lesson will come when they clip their coupons 
and observe how easy it is to make every 
dollar they save earn 4 cents a year. The re- 
sult will be the creation of a tremendous class 
of investors who will not relinquish the saving 
habit when the government stops issuing 
bonds. The French became a nation of bond- 
holders after the Franco-Prussian war. The 
habit they developed in response to the needs 



The firm of Pinckard & Shaughnessy, stock 
and bond brokers and member of the San 
Francisco Stock and Bond Exchange, have re- 
moved their offices to the new Stock and Bond 
Building on Montgomery near California 
Street . 

The California Silk Mills, which has re- 
cently been organized under the laws of Cali- 
fornia, is destined to become a great indus- 
trial institution. The plant, which is located 
in Berkeley, has already commenced opera- 
tions with ten looms, which will be added to 
from time to time as the business increases 
and expands. California is better suited for 
the manufacture of silk goods than any other 
state in the Union, being nearer the source 
of supply, as China and Japan produce 90 per 
cent of the world's supply of raw silk. Cali- 
fornia uses annually approximately $20,000,- 
000 of manufactured silk, or the product of 
13,000 looms working the year round. That 
the silk manufacturing industry will eventually 
be an important factor among the industries 
of the West will not be doubted by any ope 
who has made a careful study of industrial 
and economic conditions. Mr. W. O. Mills, 
a man who has had large practical experience 
in the silk manufacturing business, is in 
charge of the operation of the California Silk 
Mills. 

The daily quotations of Liberty Loan Bonds 
on the New York Stock Exchange below par 
do not represent any real loss for those 
holders of Liberty Loan Bonds who do not 
need to sell them. The figures do mean a 
very small loss for those who find them- 
selves compelled for one reason or another to 
sell; but those who hold on to their bonds 
have one of the very best investments in the 
world — absolutely safe, free to a great extent 
from taxation, and bringing in an absolutely 
certain income. The loss to them is purely 
imaginary, a paper loss, not a real one. 

Secretary McAdoo, in a speech before the 
Liberty Loan Conference in Washington De- 
cember 10th, made the statement that, while 
sufficient legally competent evidence was not 
in hand to warrant conviction before a jury, 
yet enough was known morally to convince a 
man of understanding that the hand of the 
Kaiser was at work in bringing about sales of 
Liberty Loan Bonds and depressing their price 
on the exchange. This is added proof that the 
loss indicated by the difference between par 
and the stock exchange prices is fictitious and 
not reaL 

The phenomenal growth of the stock and 
bond business of McDonnell & Co. during the 
past few years has made it necessary for them 
to change quarters, and on Monday next they 
will open their new offices in the recently 
completed San Francisco Stock and Bond Ex- 
change Building. Their new quarters were de- 
signed with a view to providing the maximum 
of comfort and convenience for the clients. 
Private wires run direct from the office to all 
the principal exchanges in the country and 
every effort has been made to insure service 
along modern, efficient and economic lines. 
Visitors from the East state that there are 
no more modernly equipped brokerage offices 
in New York than the new home of Mc- 
Donnell & Co. 

Repression shown in stock market move- 
ments during the past year did not extend to 
other financial lines. Bond sales on the ex- 
change fell off nearly 8.6 per cent from the 
preceding year, while stock sales decreased 20 
per cent and issues of domestic capital de- 
clined 30 per cent On the other hand, the. 
two Liberty Bond issues totaled $5,800,000. 
over five times the total sales of bonds on 
the New York Stock Exchange, while the gov- 
ernment marketed $3,000,000,000 of short- 
term certificates. At no time through the year 
did discounts rise above 6 per cent, time 
loans above Sy 2 per cent, or call money, even 
temporarily, above 12 per cent It is true 
that no b'ttle variability in interest rates 
appeared, owing to the governments, financing 
and the shifting of its funds in and out of 
the banks. The Federal Reserve system, 
however, has been a bulwark against acute 
disturbance. Moreover, although the reserve 



F. M. BROWN & CO. 

HIGH GRADE 

Investment Securities 

Government, State, Municipal 
and Corporation 

BONDS 

300 Sansome Street, San Francisco, Cal. 

List of Current Offerings on Application. 



banks' rediscounts increased during the year 
from about $157,000,000 to some $971,000,000, 
their combined resources are more than 
$3,000,000,000 and afford latitude for a fur- 
ther large expansion of credit, the system 
being a tower of strength alike for the gov- 
ernment and the business community. Bank 
clearings, despite reduced stock market deal- 
ings and the practical extinguishment of 
speculation in grain, exceeded those of 1916 in 
every month save December, and the year's 
total exceeded 1916 by 17.2 per cent The 
relatively greater gain outside the metropolis 
than in it was shown by the gain of only 11.2 
per cent at New York and of 26.4 per cent 
outside thereof. Money in circulation gained 
18 per cent over the record year 1917. Al- 
though gold exports were the greatest ever 
recorded, being two and one-half times those 
of 1916 and 65 per cent greater than in 1914, 
the hitherto record year, gold imports in- 
creased 1.5 per cent over the high point of 
1916. Foreign trade made new high levels, 
but the evidences of a change in character 
of exports were unmistakable. Shipments of 
crude materials gained, as did breadstuff s, 
copper, cotton, iron and steel, meats, chem- 
icals, coal and mineral oils. Decreases were 
shown in brass, explosives, horses and mule, 
automobiles and leather goods. Higher prices 
rather than larger quantities exported ac- 
counted for some of these gains. Exports as 
a whole increased 13.6 per cent, imports 24.6 
per cent, and all foreign trade 17.2 per cent, 
but some of this was unquestionably due to 
the rise of 29 per cent in commodity values. 



Mr. S. B. McNear, vice-president and gen- 
eral manager of the Sperry Flour Company, 
has just returned from a trip to New York 
City and Washington, D. C. In New York- 
City he attended an important meeting of 
the divisional chairmen of the United States 
Food Administration, Milling Division. While 
in Washington he had several conferences 
with Mr. Herbert Hoover and his assistants, 
with the results that many important milling 
regulations were approved by Mr. Hoover. 

Mr. McNear was in the East during the 
Christmas holidays. The following telegram 
was sent to him by the San Francisco Sperry 
Family as a slight evidence of the esteem in 
which he is held by his employees: "The San 
Francisco Sperry Family, one and all, extend 
Christmas greetings to you. May your Christ- 
mas be a happy one is our sincere wish." — • 
The Sperry Family. 



The City of Palo Alto has sold to Girvin 
& Miller S66.000 5 per cent bonds, maturing 
in from one to twenty-two years, for a pre- 
mium of $552. BIyth, Witter & Co. named a 
premium of $257 for the bonds and the Bank 
of Palo Alto offered a premium of $135. The 
bonds were authorized for the purpose of 
financing a municipal power plant and electric 
light works. 

Official government statistics show that 
Paraguay is proving to be a very favorable 
field for the sale of American drug products. 
Drugs, proprietary medicines, and druggists' 
sundries of American manufacture are found 
in practically all the pharmacies in consider- 
able quantities. Importers of these goods gen- 
erally express satisfaction with American 
products, and the prospects seem to be good 
for an increased trade in all lines of such 
supplies from the United States. 

Standard proprietary preparations, such as 
those put up by several well-known establish- 
ments in the United States, find special favor 
here- 



GIRVIN AND MILLER 

Municipal and Corporation 

BONDS 



Send for selected list of high 
grade tax free investments. 

KOHL BUILDING 

SAN FRANCISCO 



January 26, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



55 



Investments 



Financing 



Investors are urged to make 
early inquiry regarding sev- 
eral propositions of worth 
and merit which give prom- 
ise of unusually rapid de- 
velopment and commensu- 
rate large returns. 

CLARK 

244 Kearny St. 



Room 200 



Phone Sutter 1204 



THE PEN-WIPER. 



A Story of Naval Officers. 

One day, several months ago, in the parlor 
of a small inn situated in the north (one must 
not be too precise), several naval officers had 
congregated together. Two years ago this 
little inn had been on its last legs in a finan- 
cial sense, but then came the war, and with 
it the fleet, and ever since that day, when- 
ever the ships were in harbor, naval officers 
had met together at the inn Northern Lights. 
The Northern Lights is a very snug little 
house, stoutly built in gray stone, and from 
its porch it is only a stone's throw to the 
small pier (built by local labor, under the di- 
rection of an engineer-commander), against 
which the picquet boats and sailing launches 
and pinnaces jostle each other when waiting 
for their cargoes of officers and men who have 
been ashore for a few hours' exercise. So it 
is that officers waiting for their boats gravi- 
tate naturally to the Northern Lights ; and 
study in a contemplative manner the Defense 
of the Realm Acts and Board of Liquor Con- 
trol Regulations. 

It was blowing half a gale, and the Scotch 
mist was rolling across the moors like puffs 
of damp smoke, when I turned into the 
Northern Lights. Only a few enthusiasts had 
"taken the beach." I took off and hung up 
a dripping oilskin and entered the parlor. 
There were three other fellows in there sit- 
ting around the fire. One was a marine 
whom I did not know, and the other two were 

friends of mine, R and P , both 

lieutenants from one of the battleships. 

"By Jove, it's perishin' cold," complained 
the soldier ; "seems to grip one after East 
Africa," he murmured, as if in extenuation 
of his complaint. 

"When did you come home ?" said R . 

"Middle of June," responded the marine. 
"The Huns are pretty well euchred out 

there, aren't they ?" said R . 

"Oh, rather ; Smuts had put the kybosh on 
them all right; they were getting ready to 
have a beano for the home-coming of the 
victorious warriors at the Cape when I passed 
through," answered the soldier. "Sickening 
bad luck I had in not coming home earlier ; 
I missed the stunt at Jutland on the 31st." 

There was a lull in the conversation. We 
three had not missed "the stunt on the 31st," 
and though some months old, mention of that 
date evoked memories. 

"Talking of the 31st," said P , "I only 

realized the other day that the 'Pen-Wiper' 
was scuppered that night." 

"Whom did you say?" I asked. 

"The Pen-Wiper," repeated P . 

"Who the devil was that ?" inquired 

R 

"Why Jimmy X , of course. D'you 

mean to say you didn't know he was called 
the 'Pen-Wiper'?" 

We expressed our ignorance of this fact, 
and demanded the tale which we knew must 
be attached to this name. 

"I think," said the soldier, "a very small 
drink wouldn't do us any harm." Suzie Mc- 
Hamish entered in response to a knock of a 
stick on the wooden floor. "Three small 
whiskies and water and a lemonade," said the 
soldier. 

"Everrry offeecer must pay for his ain 
drinks," sternly remarked Suzie, then, as she 
saw the clock, which pointed to 5:50 p. m., 
"Whishts, and it's no yet 6 o'clock, so ye 
canna ha' whusky the noo." 

"Quick, R , exert your well-known fas- 
cinations or we are undone," I whispered. 
"My dear Miss McHamish," interposed 

R , "how often have I warned you that 

the affection which exists between us will be 
fatally marred by this slavish adherence to 
those regulations." And he pointed to the 
"Liquor Control" rules. "Come, Suzie, for 
two years you have sinned at 5 :50 p. m. for 
my sake. Why this sudden coyness ? What is 
ten minutes of time ? And our boat goes 



"Ah, weel, Mr. R- 



-, ye ken verra well 



it's no lawful', but I s'pose I maun get them 
for ye." 

With a complacent smile R filled and 

lit another pipe as P began his 

story. 

"It was in 1908 I first met him ; I was a 



sub in one of the boats of the North flotilla, 
based at Portland. Jimmy had just command 
of the Sharper ; he commissioned her at 
Pompey, and when he brought her round to 
join up with the flotilla we all thought him 
a devilish lucky fellow. He only had six 
years in as a lieutenant, and was the youngest 
skipper in the flotilla. But he deserved his 
command. I tell you Jimmy was one of the 
smartest destroyer officers in the old Home 
Fleet. The way he handled that boat was a 
revelation to the whole flotilla. There was no 
doubt about it, he was red hot. Of course 
some people said he was reckless, and so he 
was in a way ; but, after all, what good de- 
stroj _ er officer hasn't got a bit of devil in 
him? Jimmy had his share all right. When 
he'd just shipped two stripes they gave him 
a command in the Devonport torpedoboat flo- 
tilla. Old Arthur Hillow was the commander 
of his division, and he was a bit of a taut 
hand. One night they were exercising off 
the Eddystone, and Jimmy's boat began to 
flame at the funnel — you know what devils at 
doing that those old coal boats were ; when 
they got in next morning, Hillow sent for 
Jimmy and scrubbed him down over this. 
Next time when they went out, to the joy of 
the division, old Arthur's boat began to flame. 
Jimmy saw this, and though they were going 
twenty knots, he brought his boat up to with- 
in about ten yards of the divisional leader. 

" 'What the deuce are you doing, you reck- 
less young fool ?' sung out Arthur through" a 
megaphone. 

" 'Please, sir, I've only come to make some 
toast,' says Jimmy in reply as he hoisted out 
a ship's loaf on the end of a twenty-foot boat- 
hook. No one else could have done it with- 
out being court-martialed, but it shows the 
kind of a fellow he was. 

"Well, as I was saying, he joined up with 
our flotilla in 1908 just about the time they 
started the idea of putting destroyers into 
'pens' instead of mooring 'em in the stream. 
We use to lie two deep in the Portland pens, 
and whenever Jimmy was outside boat it was 
the dickens to pay for the bloke inside him. 
Jimmy would come in at half speed, dodge 
half a dozen dinghies and a couple of buoys, 
miss the entrance pier by inches, and inside 
of five minutes he'd be tied up, head and 
stern. 

"He had a mania for running things fine, 
and fellows swore that his boat had a smaller 
turning circle and less beam than any of the 
others, but, of course, she was sister to them 
all. Naturally he often had small bumps, and 
he thought nothing of removing every wooden 
outside fitting from the boat he was running 
alongside. If you left anything sticking over 
the side it was a 'dead bird' if Jimmy was 
due to double-bank you in the 'pens/ 

"He always sent his artificer over at once. 

"With Captain X 's compliments, and if 

'e done any damage 'e 'opes you'll let me 
repair it, sir.' 

™ 'Done any damage,' shrieked an infuriated 
gunner one day in which he was a helpless 
spectator whilst one of his sighting hoods was 
neatly split in twain by a bridge rail as the 
Sharper shot past. 'Done any damage? Why 
your captain's a blinkin' pen-wiper — that's 
what 'e is!' 

"The name stuck, and no one relished it 
more than Jimmy himself. 

"I never saw him again since those days, 
but I heard about him after the action. It 
appears that he fired his last torpedo at a 
range of two hundred yards, with about a 
dozen searchlights and Lord knows how many 
six-inch on him. Last thing seen of him his 
boat was disabled — bumping down the side of 
a German battleship. If I know anything of 
him. the 'Pen-Wiper 1 wiped the Huns that 
night. He always did get where he wanted 
to." 

"Pity he's gone," said R , "blokes like 

that are useful the night after a fleet action." 

"Yes," agreed P as we rose to battle 

our way down to the pier and its waiting 
boats, "but there are still some left like him. 
thank the Lord." — Etienne in Land and 
Water. 



CURRENT VERSE. 



When the French bombed Stuttgart they 
raided the very cradle of aircraft engines. 
It was there that Daimler, developing the Otto 
gas engine, evolved the true internal combus- 
tion engine, which an ingenious Frenchman 
harnessed to the first of practicable motor- 
cars. And out of ideas gained at the great 
Daimler motor works which arose at Stutt- 
gart, Count Zeppelin evolved his leviathans. 
But for the internal combustion engine arti- 
ficial light would have been impossible. But 
for what he saw and learned at Stuttgart Zep- 
pelin would never have made his name exe- 
crated and a byword among men. 



Some idea of the annual activities of the 
large film-producing companies is contained in 
the announcement that one company in 1917 
turned out 105 productions averaging six reels 
each. This annual product, reduced to miles, 
would be in excess of 8000. About three- 
fifths of the pictures were made in California 
and the remainder in New Jersey. 



Presence. 

mother — mother of mine — 
What a wonderful mother you are! 

High in the midnight heaven 
Quivers a cool white star — 

1 feel your hand on my forehead, 
I see the light of your smile — 

I am so sleepy, mother — 
I shall forget — for a while. 

Hark! There the guns have awakened, 

Madly they stamp and roar — 
Snarling their hungry impatience — 

Gluttonous lions of war. 
Seventy yards through the clamor. 

Under its curtain of fire, 
Wet with the mists of the morning. 

Glimmers the German wire. 

"Charge!" through the throbbing silence, 

After the crash and boom. 
Into the pallid daybreak — 

Over the edge of doom. 
Low on the far horizon 

Trembles a faint white star — 
O mother — mother of mine — 

What a beautiful mother you are! 

— Jennie Belts Hartswick, in Life. 



A Lost Land. 
A childhood land of mountain ways. 
Where earthy gnomes and forest fays. 
Kind foolish giants, gentle bears, 
Sport with peasant as he fares 
Affrighted through the forest glades. 
And lead sweet wistful little maids 
Lost in the woods, forlorn, alone. 
To princely lovers and a throne. 

Dear haunted land of gorge and glen. 
Ah me! the dreams, the dreams of men! 

A learned land of wise old books 
And men with meditative looks, 
Who move in quaint red-gabled towns 
And sit in gravely-folded gowns, 
Divining in deep-laden speech 
The world's supreme arcana — each 
A homely god to listening Youth 
Eager to tear the veil of Truth; 

Mild votaries of book and pen — 
Alas, the dreams, the dreams of men! 
A music land, whose life is wrought 
In movements of melodious thought; 
In symphony, great wave on wave — 
Or fugue, elusive, swift and grave; 
A singing lad, whose lyric rhymes 
Float on the air like village chimes: 
Music and Verse — the deepest part 
Of a whole nation's thinking heart! 

Oh land of Now, oh land of Then! 

Dear God! the dreams, the dreams of men! 

Slave nation in a land of hate, 

Where are the things that made you great? 

Child-hearted once — oh, deep defiled, 

Dare you look now upon a child ? 

Your lore — a hideous mask wherein 

Self-worship hides its monstrous sin — 

Music and verse, divinely wed — 

How can these live where love is dead? 

Oh depth beneath sweet human ken, 
God helps the dreams, the dreams of men '. 
— London Punch. 



The Great Guns of England. 
The great guns of England, they listen mile on 

mile 
To the boasts of a broken War- Lord; they lift 
their throats and smile; 

But the old woods are fallen 
For a while. 

The old woods are fallen; yet will they come 

again, 
They will come back some springtime with the 
warm winds and the rain, 

For Nature guardeth her children 
Xever in vain. 

They will come back some season ; it may be a 

a hundred years; 
It is all one to Nature with the centuries that are 
hers; 

She shall bring back her children 
And dry all their tears. 

But the tears of a would-be War-Lord shall never 

cease to flow, 
He shall weep for the poisoned armies whenever 
the gas-winds blow. 

He shall always weep for his widows, 
And all Hell shall know. 

The tears of a pitiless Kaiser shallow they'll flow 

and wide, 
Wide as the desolation made by his silly pride 
When he slaughtered a little people 
To stab France in her side. 

Over the ragged cinders they shall flow on and on 
With the listless falling of streams that find not 
Oblivion, 

For ages and ages of years 
Till the last star is gone. 
— Lord Dunsany, in Overland Monthly. 




At an inquest on a Chinese laundryman at 
Newport it was stated that the man, who had 
been in England twelve years, recently be- | 
came a member of a local Baptist church. 
He was found hanging by the minister of the 
church, and a note in broken English was 
found stating that he died because "he wanted 
to go up to heaven, where his Heavenly 
Father was." The coroner said that it was 
unique in his experience to find a case of sui- 
cide for such a purpose. 



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Among the objects for which "voluntary trusts" 
are most often made are: 

To assure a steady income for yourself and 
those dependent on you. 

To relieve yourself of making regular remit- 
tances to dependents. 

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A voluntary trust can be changed to suit chang- 
ing conditions, or it can be revoked at your 
convenience. 

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THE ARGONAUT 



January 26, WIS. 



BOOK DEPARTMENT 

A NEW BOOK ON THE WAR 
The Old Front Line 

By 

JOHN MASEFIELD 

What Masefield did for the Gallipoli cam- 
paign he now does for the campaign in 
France. His subject is the old frontline as 
it was when the battle of the Somme began 
His account i* vivid and gripping— a huge 
conflict seen through the eyes of a great 
poet, this is the book. 

$1.00 net 



THE LATEST BOOKS. 

Mme. Campari's Memoirs of Marie Antoinette 
Just as there is a certain type of man for 
whom Napoleon is a sort of god, so there is 
among women a type that make a sort of 
special heroine out of Marie Antoinette. It 
is for these latter especially that a very 
handsome and beautifully printed edition of 
Mme. Campan's memoirs has just been pub- 
lished. 

Of the actual value of the memoirs as his- 
torical material one must not place too high 
an estimate. This intimate friend of the un- 
fortunate queen was a keen observer and her 
recollections serve to reproduce the atmos- 
phere of the court and to throw light upon 
the personal side of such affairs as that of 
the diamond necklace. But of the larger 
problems of statecraft and government she 
was hardly fitted to gain a proper perspective. 
In fact few of those about the court were able 
to see things except in a very narrow light, 
and to them all the great Turgot, who might 
have averted the disaster that hung over the 
monarchy, was merely a troublesome inter- 
loper of a radical kind that was interfering 
with the extravagance which they considered 
to be their rightful and natural mode of 
existence. 

Mme. Campan was, however, a facile and 
charming writer and her recollections make 
interesting reading under any circumstances. 
The edition which has just appeared is dis- 
tinguished by fine typography and paper and 
is an ornament to the library. It has also 
the advantage of a memoir by Earriere and 
an introduction and notes by Professor J. 
Holland Rose. 

Memoirs of the Private Life of Marie A.v- 
tionette. Volume I. New York: Brentano's. 



Frenzied Fiction. 
Stephen Leacock is a kindly satirist. He 
has a delightful, high-spirited humor of the 
American variety, and is never more enter- 
taining than when directing it at some of 
our foibles. "Frenzied Fiction" is a collec- 
tion of just such squibs, which make one 
laugh quite immoderately and then recall 
vividly absurdities of our American life and 
manners. 

One series o' skits, entitled "'Ideal Inter- 
views/' is characteristic. They are with a 
European Prince, with Our Greatest Actor, 
with Our Greatest Scientist, and with Our 
Typical Novelists. Read them, laugh heartily, 
and then recall them the next time you see 
just such an interview In the columns of the 
daily paper. Another delicious piece of satire 
deals with "The New Education." The 
"Bright Young Thing" is just returning to 
her college work. She is returning without 
regret, for "one can't loaf all the time." But 
doesn't she find mathematics and all such 
things a bore? Oh, she didn't elect mathe- 
matics ; she went in for Social Endeavor. 
Not a reading course, with all sorts of stupid 
books, but Laboratory Work, that is to say, 
for instance, that they go as a class to a 
department store and study it as a Social 
Germ. 

In one or two of the chapters the grotesque 
is somewhat overdone, but the book as a 
whole is an unequaled source of delight and 
stands on a par with Marquis' "Hermione." 

Frenzied Fiction. By Stephen Leacock. New 
York: John Lane Company; SI. 25. 

Edward McGowsn. 
"Narrative of Edward McGowan, including 
a full account of the author's adventures and 
perils while persecuted by the San Francisco 
Vigilance Committee of 1856, together with a 
report of his trial, which resulted in his ac- 
quittal Reprinted line for line and page for 
page from the original edition, published by 
the avthor in 1S57. complete, with reproduc- 
tions in facsimile, of the original illustra- 
tions -over-page title, and title page." 

So - uns the title page of a remarkable 
;me printed from hand-set type by Thomas 



C. Russell, who may thus be congratulated 
not only on the reproduction of a work im- j 
portant to the early history of California, but ' 
also on as fine a piece of the typographical 
art as can well be found. Mr. Russell has 
printed 200 copies of the "Narrative" and he 
has distributed the type. The first hundred I 
will be sold for $5 a volume and the second 
hundred for $10 a volume. 

Narrative of Edward McGowan. Printed at 
San Francisco by Thomas C. Russell, 1754 Nine- i 
teenth Avenue, Sunset. 

French Plays. 

When Andre Antoine founded his Free The- 
atre in Paris it was with the purpose of pre- | 
senting new and original dramas which would 
otherwise never see the light on account of 
the conservatism of the average manager. 
Barrett H. Clark has translated from the 
French and had published in one volume four 
plays written by dramatists who were what 
might be called sons of the Free Theatre and 
who have since been recognized as standing I 
in the front rank of accepted dramatists. 
"The Fossils," by Francois de Curel, is the 
story of an ancient and noble family in whom 
the sense of family perpetuity is so deep and 
tenacious that when the line threatens to be 
extinct the most conservative members join 
in a fervent conspiracy to perpetuate it by 
authorizing the dying heir of the Chantemelle 
estates and honors to marry his mistress, so 
that he may legitimatize the little son who is 
the issue of their illicit connection. 

"The Serenade," by Jean Jul lien, is an ex- 
treme example of the drama of revolt, going 
so far in its depiction of the brutality and 
sordidness of human nature as to amount to 
too savage a revolt against the lay figures and 
conventionalized drama of the nineteenth cen- 
tury; for, with the passing of the Free The- 
atre, Jean Jullien's hold on the public ceased. 

"Francois' Luck," by Georges de Porto- 
Riche, won its way with Antoine, not through 
its radicalism, but because the public was 
sure to be won by the charming character 
study of the principal character. 

Georges Ancey, like Jullien, was too extreme 
in his revolt against petrified conventions 
wholly to win even the liberals. He exag- 
gerated the darker phases of human nature. 
a fault which is observable in "The Dupe," 
the fourth play of the collection reviewed. 
Nevertheless the striking events and inherent 
power of this play entitle it to the apprecia- 
tive attention of the student of French drama. 

French Plays. New York: Brentano's; $1.50 
net. 



day of the industrial freedom of the women 
of France. 

"False Gods" is a striking dramatic presen- 
tation of the fanaticism of ancient Egypt, and 
portrays the courage of the pioneer in skepti- 
cism whose intrepidly indicated disbelief wins 
for him only death and execration. 

"The Red Robe" contains more of the 
propaganda toward which Brieux' sympathy 
for humanity always impelled him. It shows 
the dangers of injustice to the accused which 
have hitherto dwelt in the French method of 
judicial procedure. In France it has been 
the custom to try cases in privacy, and, while 
Brieux sees the danger of injustice in both 
public and private trials, his intention was to 
indicate the tenacity with which an unworthy 
judge, having no public tribunal to influence 
him, sticks to his opinion more as an asser- 
tion that he is right than from honest con- 
viction. The result is tragedy. 

Three Brieux Plays. New York: Brentano's; 
SI. 50 net. 



The Aristocrat. 
Louis X. Parker has founded "The Aristo- 
crat" on an incident of the French Revolution. 
The Royalist family of the Chastelfrancs, 
while illegally celebrating in the family chapel 
with a choice asemblage of aristocratic guests 
a mass under the auspices of a recalcitrant 
bishop who has antagonized the Revolutionists 
by refusing to take the Republican oath, are 
surprised and arrested by a detachment of 
National Guards. The play proceeds on its 
logical course to dramatic scenes in a prison 
with the mob howling outside while the great 
nobles are summoned one by one to their doom 
under the blade of the guillotine. The theme 
is time-worn, and there is no particular nov- 
elty in Mr. Parker's handling of it, but his 
instinctive theatrical sense and trained tech- 
nic are. as usual, to the fore. The play in 
the reading strikes one as full of dramatic 
effectiveness and there is a certain stately 
spectacular quality to the emotions which are 
motivated which strengthens its appeal. 

The Aristocrat. By Louis N. Parker. New- 
York: John Lane Company; $1 net. 



St. Paul. 

Dr. Francis E. Clark was unaware when he 
wrote his book that the relentless hand of 
war would bring Oriental Europe and Asia 
Minor once more to the centre of the stage 
of world politics. Perhaps he wrought better 
than he knew when he gave us this descrip- 
tion of a journey to the cities visited by St. 
Paul. His narrative will doubtless have a 
fascination from the purely religious point 
of view, but it can none the less be read with 
much profit by those in search of a vivid 
description of peoples and places to which 
war has given so lurid an importance. There 
are fifty-six illustrations and a map that add 
largely to the value of the work. 

In the Footsteps of St. Paul. By Francis E. 
Clark, D. D., LL. D. New York: G. P. Putnam's 
Sons; $2. 

Three Brieux Plays. 
Brentano's has brought out a second install- 
ment of three translated plays by Brieux, of 
which "Woman on Her Own" will be found 
particularly interesting by militant women on 
the keen look-out for injustice. Therese is a 
portionless young woman who, in the effort 
to exercise her business talents in the indus- 
trial world, runs against the sex antagonism 
of the wage-earning male. Brieux constitutes 
himself the champion of the woman, and by 
writing this play undoubtedly has hastened the 



Israel and Internationalism. 

There is a form of rhymeless poetry, metre- 
less but full of rhythm, that makes the best 
of our modern vers libre unsavory husks. 
Nothing is more stately, strong, or beautiful 
than the measures of the Hebrew poets of the 
Bible. And it is this form that some anony- 
mous author, or perchance Mr. J. E. Sampter. 
who signs himself transcriber, has invoked to 
set forth in noble numbers a call to the 
peoples of the world to abandon the binding 
thrall of nationalism. He does not, indeed, 
embellish his lines with antiphonies and re- 
iteration, nor does he use the spondaic metre 
to give dignity, but he has reproduced the 
feeling of the Old Testament poets without 
the effect of parody or simulation. 

A remarkable book indeed and unique. It 
is neither didactic nor doctrinaire, yet its 
message is straight and sure and it carries you 
along like a chapter of Hosea. The message 
is pointedly to the Jew, and he will see in 
it a powerful appeal for Zionism. Perhaps 
this is the purport and intent of this resonant 
song, but one would fain see in it a call to a 
spiritual rather than a material Zionism, a 
call embracing all peoples and all lands. 

J. L. 

The Book of the Nation's. Transcribed by T. 
E. Sampter. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.; SI 
net. 



Popular Science in Story Form. 
The name of Jean Henri Fabre is dear to 
all who love natural history, and hundreds of 
thousands have followed with delight his fas- 
cinating investigations of the life of bees and 
spiders and ants and all their tribe. It is by 
the wonderfully patient inquiries by which 
this rare old naturalist, recently deceased, dis- 
closed the secrets of the insect world that 
we best know him. But he had a great fond- 
ness for children, and in a volume which in 
French has now passed through some nine- 
teen editions he has set forth for their edi- 
fication in the form of "Uncle Paul's" talks 
with his little nephew and niece all manner 
of delightful scientific information. Eighty 
different subjects are treated, and they vary 
from volcanoes, clouds, rain, and thunder and 
lightning to the bumble-bee, flower blossoms, 
caterpillars, and pearls. An astonishing field 
is covered of just the things that every boy 
and girl wants to know about, provided the 
study of them is not made to savor of routine 
school work. It is learning for the young 
made easy, and a reading of the volume 
means a big store of valuable information. 

The Story Book of Science. By Jean Henri 
Fabre. Translated by Florence Constable Bicknell. 
New York: The Century Company; $2. 



Gossip of Books and Authors. 
Three hours to type three pages, only to 
find the ribbon had been misplaced and the 
pages were blank is but one of Captain 
Nobbs' experiences in writing "On the Right 
of the British Line" after he had been blinded 
in the battle of the Somme and captured. 

The occasion — and it is something of a 
literary occasion — of the announcement by the 
George H. Doran Company of a new book, 
"The Brown Brethren," by Patrick MacGill, 
revives attention to one of the most pic- 
turesque figures and one of the most gifted 
artists of the war. 

It has remained for the art and genius of 
Louis Raemaekers to rout the propagandists of 
the enemy by delineating the great basic 
truths of war as waged by the Huns. His 
very shock is a stimulus, for in teling us of 
the horror of war Raemaekers makes us un- 
derstand that to stop it forever by victory is 
the only thing worthy of thinking and feeling 
human beings. The exact services rendered 
to the Allied cause in this way form the sub- 
ject of an article entitled "Raemaekers. Main- 
spring of Armed Force," by S. Stanwood, an- 
nounced for the February Century Magazine. 

Although it has long been known that Jef- 
ferson as Secretary of State took a deep in- 
terest in the building of the Capital City, it 
was only recently discovered that he himself 











All Books that are reviewed In the 
Argonaut can be obtained at 

Robertson's 

222 STOCKTON ST. 

Union Square San Francisco 











THE HOLMES BOOK CO. 

can supply any book published. Call and in- 
spect our wonderful stock of thousands of vol- 
umes of every description. Special attention 
(riven " wants." Send us your list. 

Entire libraries purchased 
Cash paid for books of all kinds 

152 KEARNY ST. TWO STORES 70 THIRD ST. 
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 



THE 

WRITERS' BUREAU 

57 Post St., San Francisco 
PLACES MANUSCRIPTS FOR PUBLICATION 



prepared designs for the "White House, and 
actually submitted one of these anommously 
in the public competition for which he drafted 
the advertisement. Jefferson's ability to make 
such drawings has until recently been denied 
in many quarters, and only the assemblage of 
an overwhelming body of evidence has con- 
vinced the skeptics of the truth of traditions 
regarding the great statesman's skill as an 
architect. Designs for his own remark;iMi. 
house at Monticello, for a governor's house 
at Richmond, the Virginia Capitol, and other 
buildings had demonstrated his ability to un- 
dertake a plan for the official residence of the 
President. A knowledge of foreign archi 
tecture and foreign architects, enthusiastically 
cultivated during his five years in Paris, Eng- 
land, Italy, and Germany, qualified him to 
make his design exceptional in scholarly con- 
formity with the best precedents. The story 
of Jefferson's architectural work will be told 
in an illustrated article. "Jefferson and the 
National Capitol," by Fiske Kimball, an- 
nounced for the February Century Magazine. 
Without diminishing in the least our admira- 
tion of Hoban's design, which we now see in 
its true relations, we can not fail to acquire 
a new interest in the Capitol of today by 
learning how much it owes to the thought and 
artistic skill of the father of American Inde- 
pendence. 

A most graphic idea of the incredible dif- 
ficulties of British campaigns in the East, 
without ever touching upon the war proper, is 
given in the forthcoming book. "In Mesopo- 
tamia," by Martin Swayne. a volume an- 
nounced for early publication by the George 
H. Doran Company. 

The remarkable position of Clemenceau and 
the main issues of his life form the subject 
of an article by Herbert Adams Gibbons, en- 
titled "The Tiger of France." in the February 
Century Magazine. Mr. Gibbons explains how- 
it has come about that the man who is unani- 
mously considered the greatest destructive 
political force of the Third Republic has now 
been called upon to save France. 

Why is fiction regarded with a certain con- 
descension? The novel is the test case for 
democratic literature. We can not afford to 
pay its practitioners with cash merely, for 
cash discriminates in quantity and little more. 
Saul and David were judged by the numbers 
of their thousands slain ; but the test was a 
crude one for them and cruder still for 
fiction. We can not afford to patronize these 
novelists as our ancestors did before us. Not 
prizes of endowments or coterie worship, or, 
certainly, more advertising is what the Ameri- 
can novelist requires, but a great respect 
for his craft. The Elizabethan playwright was 
frequently despised of the learned world, and. 
if a favorite, not always a respected one of 
the vulgar. Strange that learned and vulgar 
alike should repeat the fallacy in dispraising 
the preeminently popular art of our own 
times ! To Sir Francis Bacon "Hamlet" was 
presumably only a play-actor's play. If the 
great American story should arrive at last, 
would we not call it "only a novel" ? The 
reasons for this deplorable attitude toward 
the novel are analyzed, it is said, in an article 
entitled "On a Certain Condescension Toward 
Fiction," by Professor Henry Seidel Canby. 
announced for the February Century Maga- 
zine. The novel, according to Professor Can- 
by. was given a bad name in its youth that 
has overshadowed its successful maturity. 



The sunflower seems destined to play an 
important part in the economic life of the 
United States as a substitute for linseed. A 
report was recently read before a convention 
of the National Paint and Varnish Associa- 
tion, which declared that the cultivation of the 
sunflower for this purpose can be made to 
yield a gross return to the farmer of from $30 
to $35 an acre. 



January 26. 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



0/ 



THE LATEST BOOKS. 



The Prussian Chez Lui. 

The curse of Prussia is Prussia, and the 
great mystery of our century is that such a 
people should be filled with the ambition to 
force upon happier peoples their drear and 
sordid mode of existence. At least that is 
the feeling: that pervades one after reading 
the sketches of life in Koenigsberg written 
by Mr. Raymond under the caption of "Inti- 
mate Prussia." 

The pictures of Prussian life are written 
in the form of a simple story. An English 
student, after studies elsewhere in Germany, 
betakes himself to the University of Koenigs- 
berg to get an insight into the real Prussia. 
He finds quarters in the home of the 
family of the head porter of the railway sta- 
tion, and chronicles the simple life of the 
father, the mother, the student son, and the 
two pretty daughters. Under the guise of 
this family tale he gives an intimate picture 
of Prussian life that bears every mark of 
reality and fidelity to the original. It is a 
depressing picture, but one not without its 
romance and its softer side. Many volumes 
of description and analysis might be written 
without giving so accurate and comprehensive 
a view of the narrow, frugal, sordid, and 
highly-disciplined life that is the basis of the 
Hohenzollern power as this simple Familien- 
Chronik. 

Intimate Prussia. Ev A. Raymond. Xew York: 
E. P. Dutton & Co.; $2 net. 



The Crime. 

Unquestionably one of the dynamic books 
of the great war was "J'accuse," written 
anonymously and published first in Switzer- 
land. The author was evidently a German of 
political experience and position, and his 
clear-sighted analysis of the origin of the war 
and its causes was a terrific indictment of the 
leaders of Prussian Germany. That they felt 
the force of this exposition was shown by 
the fact that they made every endeavor to 
suppress the book, to proscribe it in their own 
domains, and through the pens of some of 
their most prominent professors and publicists 
to answer its damning charges. 

The author remained undiscovered, at least 
so far as the public was concerned, but he did 
not cease an activity that he believed in the 
highest sense patriotic, the effort to make his 
countrymen see things as they are, to the end 
that Germany might throw off the military 
incubus that had hypnotized and enslaved her 
and was leading her to ruin. The feeble at- 
tempts to answer and counter his direct 
charges have called him once more into the 
forum, and he has responded to his critics in 
a new volume entitled "The Crime." 

This new volume represents much pains- 
taking labor. It is in the main a reiteration 
and reinforcement of his first indictment. 
While it follows the line of the first and does 
not branch out into new fields of discussion, 
it does gather together an interesting mass of 
confirmatory material bearing upon his origi- 
nal theses, and must be regarded as a valu- 
able complement to "J'accuse." The two vol- 
umes should be taken together as a complete 
and searching indictment that sooner or later 
will perform a great task in opening the eyes 
of such Teutons as are not incurably inocu- 
lated with the present mania Teutonica. 

The Crime. By a German. New York: George 
II. Doran Company; $2.50 net. 



Recent European History. 
It is of course obvious that in the training 
of our army officers at West Point a very- 
considerable amount of attention must be 
paid to European history, not to the military 
side alone, but also to the political side, 
which profoundly influences military disposi- 
tions. Apparently the instructing staff have 
found it difficult to find among existing works 
a text-book that exactly met the requirements. 



MISS KELLEY 

announces the formation of 

War Service Business Classes 

Applications will be received up to 
January 30, 1918 

1801 CALIFORNIA STREET 

Telephone Prospect 4697 : San Francisco, Cal. 



THE LYCEUM, accredited. 1250 California- 
Do you wish to prepare for the university or 
any college, Annapolis. West Point, teachers' 
exams., civil service, etc.? Then attend this 
school, which has a record un^qualed by any 
other school; we teach all subjects of JDnior col- 
lege; we prepare you in 1 year or less; excellent 
instruction: lowest tuition: 24th year: day or 
evenine classes. L. H. GRAC. Ph. D . principal, 
formerly of Stanford t*niversity. 



SANTA BARBARA GIRLS' SCHOOL 

Resident and Day Pupils. Sleeping- Porches 
and Op*»n-Air School Rooms. Rid'ng. Swim- 
ming, etc.. the year round. Basis of work, clear 
thinking. For catalogue and information, address 

Marion L. Chamberlain, A. M* Principal 
1624 Garden St., Santa Barbara, Cal. 



for two professors of the history department 
of the military academy have just published 
an exhaustive treatise on the history of Eu- 
rope from 1862 to 1914, especially designed 
for purposes of instruction. 

The plan of the volume is admirable. The 
mass of historical data is presented clearly 
and with fine coordination. Military cam- 
paigns are not given undue space, that side 
of the course being left to other departments, 
but excellent condensed accounts of the suc- 
cessive European wars are included. The 
chief stress is laid upon the elucidation of 
international relations, and considerable atten- 
tion is paid to internal affairs in each of the 
great powers. 

The book is coldly impartial, an attitude 
th.it would be entirely praiseworthy were it 
not for the fact in limiting their vision to 
the formal data of politics and diplomacy the 
authors have been inclined to overlook the 
moral and spiritual elements in the problems. 
There i^ unconsciously reflected the technical 
mode that led our own people to regard mam 
of our regular army officers at the outbreak 
of war as pro-German because they expected 
Germany to be victorious "on form." An ex- 
ception to the general attitude of impartiality 
must be noted in the treatment of the Irish 
Home Rule question and in dealing with the 
relations between Austria- Hungary and Ser- 
bia, where scant justice is done to the fact 
that years before the great war the valiant 
little Balkan nation realized that she was in 
mortal danger because she stood in the way 
of the realization of German and Austrian 
dreams of dominion. For the general reader 
the book furnishes both a fine conspectus of 
recent history and a most useful work of 
reference. 

The H'story of Europe fsom 1862 to 1914. 
By Lieutenant-Colonel Lucius Hudson Holt and 
Captain Alexander Wheeler Chilton. New York: 
The Macmillan Company; $2.60. 



Fairy Stories from the Sanskrit. 
There are two men in the University of 
California of whom we should be proud, and 
both of them are better known and appre- 
ciated in the great world at large than right 
here at home. One of them is Arthur W. 
Ryder, professor of Sanskrit, poet, chess- 
player, etc.. and the other is Perham W. Xahl. 
artist and teacher of art. And now they 
have collaborated in bringing out the fairy- 
story book of the year. Professor Ryder has 
translated from the Sanskrit the stories of 
the Twenty -Two Goblins, and Professor Nahl 
has illustrated them with a score of Oriental 
pictures reproduced in color. The stories are 
new and fresh and the translator has given 
them lightness and charm in their English 
garb. 

TwENrr-Two Goblins. Translated from the 
Sanskrit bv Arthir W. Rvder. Illustrated bv Per- 
ham \V. Nahl. Xew York: E. P. Dutton & Co.: 
$3 net. 



New Books Received 

Democracy and the War. Bv John Firman 
Coar, A. M., Ph. D.. F. A. G. 5. Xew York: 
G. P. Putnam's Sons; $1.25. 

A discussion of issues. 

Just Outside. By Stacy Aumonier. New 
York: The Century Company: SI. 35. 
A novel. 

Comrades. By Mary billon. Xew York: The 
Century Company; S1.40. 
A war novel. 

The Rhyme Garden. Verses and drawings by 
Marguerite Buller Allan. Xew York: John Lane 
Company. 

For children. 

Ginger Mick. By C. J. Dennis. New York: 
John Lane Company: $1. 
Australian war verse. 

Songs of the Celtic Past. By Xorreys Jeph- 
son O'Conor. Xew York: Tohn Lane Company; 
$1.25. 

A volume of verse. 

Early English Portrait Miniatures. Edited 
by Charles Holme. Text by H. A. Kennedy. New 
York: John Lane Company. 

Is~utd in "The Studio." 

The Invisible Guide. By G. Lewis Hind. 
New York: John Lane Company; $1. 
Spiritualism. 

Gardens Overseas". By Thomas Walsh. New 
York: John Lane Company; SI. 25. 
A volume of verse. 

"Mv Beloved Poilus." St. John. New Bruns- 
wick: Barnes & Co. 

Letters from an American girl with the French 
ambulance. 

A Crusader of France. Xew York: E. P. 
Duttpn & Co.: SI. 50. 

Loiters of Captain Ferdinand Belmont. 

Training and Rewards <->f the PHYSICIAN. By 
Richard C. Cabot, M. D. Philadelphia: J. B. 

Lippincott Company; S1.25. 

A survey of the medical field. 

The High Call. By Ernest M. Stires. Xew 
York: E. P. Dutton & Co.; $1.50. 

Essavs on the ethical side of the war. 



A FLAME ATTACK. 

How French Soldiers Protected Themselves with 
Mud. 

t The following vivid account of a flame at- 
tack on the French trenches was given to 
Walter Duranty by a corporal of a regiment 
as famous as the Foreign Legion — the onli 
one besides the Foreign Legion entitled "to 
wear the green and gold shoulder straps of 
the military medal fourragere." The flame 
attack followed a bombardment exceeding in 
intensitv that of Verdun. The extract is from 
Colliers Weekly.) 

Right beside a mitrailleuse began banging 
like an unsilenced motorcycle, and almost 
simultaneously there rose up forty feet high 
on the extreme left flank of attack a tall, thin 
jet of white and red light from which sprayed 
off flashes of green and yellow as water 
sprays from a hose jet at a fire. For what 
seemed a full second or more the flame hung 
in the air above us. showing bright as day 
the shapeless slope in front with its mounds 
and hollows. Funny how the brain works ! 
In that brief moment as automatically I 
turned and threw the grenade in my hand 
toward the base of the fire column, my 
thought was not of the danger to us, but of 
triumph in the havoc our quick firer had 
wrought among the Germans advancing to the 
attack. Then a rain of blazing liquid fell 
upon us, and I screamed as the drons of tire 
seared my left hand. 

Suddenly all was night again — thick dark- 
ness that seemed solid before our eyes like a 
black wall. Our mitrailleuse was silent, but 
in front our grenades were bursting like 
giant firecrackers ; by my side some one 
was shrieking in agony, and farther along I 
could hear the lieutenant, as I had heard him 
before, cursing the fools who were so slow 
getting their mitrailleuse back into action. 

My hand didn't hurt me any more. I had 
no pain anywhere, no thought save to throw 
bomb after bomb down there to the left to 
destroy the devilish thing that was preparing 
to spring at us again. 

It's a queer thing about some of these new 

war inventions. You feel a concrete hatred 

as for a savage beast without thinking about 

the men who are really working the thing. A 

Boche prisoner told me the same about our 

tanks; said he entirely forgot there were men 

I in them and was quite surprised to see our 

wounded crawling out once when a big shell 

| hit one fair and square and smashed it. So 

I we all cheered as if we'd killed the devil when 

| a sudden deep bellow drowned the banging 

of the bombs and a great round fountain of 

j fire told us one of the flame containers had 

| exploded. Those wretched Boches must have 

; died quick, like flies in the flame of .a lamp. 

for one after another three containers burst 

into roaring eruption as the fire from the first 

one caught them, and by their light we saw 

here and there a stray survivor plunging 

headlong back to the German line. So far 

at least the attack had been a failure. 

My hand had begun to hurt again 
damnably, and I turned to see if our Breton 
sergeant had got any oil when I was startled 
to hear him yelling as if for the first time 
in his life he was really excited. 

"The mud, the mud," he shouted, "the mud 



will save us. Mon lieutenant, the mud, the 
mud." 

I thought he was crazy, and so, 1 suppose, 
did the lieutenant, for he shouted back: 
"'What the devil do you mean, you fool?" 

"We escaped at this end," replied the 
Breton more calmly, "yet the flame fell right 
among us. Only two of us were burned, and 
they were dry. so it made cinders of them. 
but we others had fallen into a shell hole, 
and the water and mud saved us." 

By God, he was right ! As I looked at my 
body and arms I could see how the mud had 
dried where the flame struck it, and here and 
there burnt patches where it had eaten its 
way even into the damp cloth. 

I don't know what they use in these fire 
throwers, but it is devilish stuff. Nothing 
will extinguish it: it just flares away until 
it's all consumed. 

The lieutenant didn't need to give an order. 
With one accord we flung ourselves forward, 
for we knew our respite was short, and wal- 
lowed in the sticky mud. plastering it in 
handfuls over our heads and bodies, with just 
a wipe at the end to clean off the goggles of 
our masks. It astonished me how many of 
the company were alive after that bombard- 
ment. . 

By this time the sea of flame in front had 
died down, and we knew the Boches would 
try again immediately before it got light 
enough to help us. Already one could see 
things more clearly in the gray twilight, and 
when they did come the mitrailleuse worked 
terrible execution. But one quick firer isn't 
enough for a massed attack and bombs make 
more noise than damage, so things soon began 
to look very ugly. 

They had their flame jets going again, but 
more scattered this time, and though we blew 
up one or two there was a steady rain of fire 
that we couldn't check or avoid. 

But that mud was wonderful. It saved our 
lives a dozen times over. We had wrapped 
bandages round out hands and then daubed 
mud on that so that we were armored all 
over like tortoises in their shells, save for 
our fingers, which caught it every now and 
then and hurt horribly as one threw the 
bombs. 

Then a shower of flame fell plumb on the 
mitrailleuse, and the cartridge bands blew up 
all together and put it out of business. I 
don't think there had been any hand-to-hand 
fighting before, but when that happened they 
rushed us right away. . . . 

I heard all about that afterward, as when 
I came to I was in a field hospital. They 
told me my uniform was covered with a sort 
of armor, that wonderful clay baked hard as 
iron. They had to break it off with a ham- 
mer. 



A onservative estimate of the number of 
negroes crossing the Mason and Dixon line 
every" week is said to be 5000. 



In New York City a war-time innovation 
has been inaugurated to conserve food and 
fuel. It is the organization of a company, 
which has the indorsement of many promi- 
nent men, to cook wholesome food in some 
central place or places and deliver meals ready 
to serve by automobile. Meals prepared by 
experts will be packed in containers especially 
designed for the purpose, and will then be 
taken about to the homes of the people who 
take advantage of this service at stated hours. 



The Sperry Flour Company began with one 
mill in California in 1852. Today it has 
twelve mills in operation (among them the 
largest on the Pacific Coast) producing 
QUALITY PRODUCTS for quality 
homes, distributed through quality retail 
grocers. The steady growth of this big flour 
and cereal institution is the best evidence of a 
constant and satisfying service to the public. 



Sperry Flour Co. 



San Francisco 




THE ARGONAUT 



January 26, 1918. 




THE ORPHEUM. 

As usual Allan Brooks discounts every 
other attraction of a bill on which he figures, 
and this in spite of the fact that we have 
seen "Dollars and Sense" before. I have 
never quite understood why men take such 
intense delight in humorous depictions of in- 
ebriety, but I suppose we women must lay it 
to the revival of tender recollections of past 
joys ; although we, perhaps ignorantly, as- 
sume that when man is alcoholically befuddled 
he forgets everything when he returns to 
himself. Still, there must remain a tender 
haze of recollection of the condition in which 
all the pleasant emotions were heightened and 
all the unpleasant ones minimized. But a 
comedy drunkard must be extremely funny to 
make the women laugh, and he must be able 
to express some natural graces of nature 
even during the greatest height of the vinous 
elevation portrayed. 

Allan Brooks never loses his charm. 
Whether he is tossing down highballs, or un- 
certain of his footing, or affectionately lo- 
quacious with his valet, his magnetism and a 
distinctive and delightful individuality of 
humor work their spell. And everything in 
his appearance harmonizes: his negligent 
length of limb, his easy attitudes, the peculiar 
arch of his brows, the quiver and even the 
shape of those humor wrinkles on each side 
of his mouth. 

I wonder that an actor-director with so 
keen a sense of humor would permit his lead- 
ing man to be so meticulously precise in his 
distinctness. However, we forgive the hand- 
some youth because he is simultaneously 
handsome and conscientious; for those two 
adjectives do not so very often run in couples. 

Dorothea Sadlier is very good as the cal- 
culating beauty who enthralls two good men 
and true, and Otoya Mizuki as the Japanese 
valet makes us forget that he is acting. 

Although a holdover, Joseph E. Howard and 
his "Musical World Revue" rank high in 
favor. His piece has music, spectacle, and a 
pretty, modest, little girl, who runs a costume 
show on her own slender shoulders. There is 
really artistic composition in the "Lotos 
Flower Set," and spectacular gorgeousness in 
the Chinatown scene. The voices of the male 
quartet are very good, their songs hit the 
popular ear, and Joseph Howard, smiling, 
cheerful, and debonair, makes a big per- 
sonal hit when he sings songs of his own com- 
position. 

The Le Grohs are a double- jointed trio, 
evidently related, who were born supple and 
have improved on nature. They bent their 
spines to such amazingly acute angles that it 
made some of the women nervous. Their 
champion treated his arms and legs as if they 
were the antennae of a devil-fish. But it all 
seemed easy and natural to them". 

The rough-and-tumble fun and nonsense of 
Rice and Werner in "On the Scaffold" made 
its due appeal, especially at the grand sliding 
climax; but their lines need revision and the 
injection of more humor. Mack and Earl 
patter-patter acceptably, Mack rejoicing in a 
natural comedy mug, while Anna Earl is 
active, petite, and pretty. King and Harvey 
went to extremes in their burlesque singing, 
but no one seemed to object, the acclamations 
seeming to come from the majority; and the 
Hawaiian singers and instrumentalists pleased 
by the native flavor of their melancholy and 
rather long-drawn-out music. Bee Ho Gray 
is an imitator, but a most skillful one, of a 
vaudeville pioneer in his line. We enjoyed 
the dexterity of his lariat whirling and throw- 
ing and the skill with which he lassoed any 
anatomical section of the horse or the lady 
that took his fancy. One does not feel like 
criticising him for following his predecessor 
in the line in which he is so expert, more par- 
ticularly as he is ready-witted and amusing 
in the incidental patter that he maintains 
with a strong cowboy accent which sounded 
like the real thing. 



THE PSYCHOLOGICAL LIAR. 



The psychological liar is born, not made. 

There are quantities of him everywhere. A 

nuartet umps to my mind immediately. One 

> a n in, three are women. Psychological 

■--, arc apt to be women. Is it because they 

or have been, in that near yet already 



astonishingly old past which is rapidly dying, 
obliged to imagine destinies for themselves in- 
stead of making them, as men do ? At any 
rate, the psychological liar is not usually an 
evil-doer. She — I say she advisedly — gen- 
erally harms no one. She merely indulges in 
the luxury of making herself the heroine of 
imaginary adventures. Sometimes, when she 
is too temperamental, she does wreck a life. 
This happens when she drags in some un- 
suspecting man and makes him the hero of her 
self-created fictions. Of such is the type of 
sub-normal girls who figure as the accuser 
in trials of men falsely accused of misdeeds 
they have never committed. 

That form of mental malady which pushes 
this kind of liar into her lies is either a 
morbid excess of romanticism or a form of 
megalomania. She feels, perhaps, an irre- 
sistible desire to give people something to talk 
about. Only that something must be herself. 
An early marriage and maternity would be 
the best cure for this mental condition, for 
nature meant that emotional womankind 
should plunge its emotions into the rearing 
of children when she is still in her teens. 

It is useless to deny that women enjoy life 
very much more than they used to in the 
days when nature's dictates were heeded, but 
there are always some people that can not 
quite conform to the new dispensation. Out- 
wardly the psychological liar confirms, but in- 
wardly she revels in wild romanticism or 
intense adventure. I never think of the psy- 
chological liar as just a teller of the ordinary 
falsehoods of convenience or expediency. 
With her, to Actionize about herself is an in- 
stinct. Poor little half-unconscious liar! 
Does she take herself in with these fictions 
in which she always appears in a creditable 
light ? I verily believe she does, sometimes, 
in spite of there being misty edges about that 
conviction, which, perhaps, can be gotten rid 
of when the clear cold light of reason is shed 
upon the tortuous passages of her mental con- 
sciousness. 

And so the psychologically lying heroine of 
"Enter the Hero," which we saw last week at 
the St. Francis Little Theatre, is strictly 
founded on reality. For the heroine of The- 
resa Helburn's little play is a young woman 
who, like the heroine of "Green Stockings," 
not finding a love affair obtainable, made up 
one, with herself as the heroine, and the most 
eligible man on her horizon as the hero. Like 
the kidnaped lover in "Green Stockings," he 
was so conveniently remote — being, if I re- 
member aright, a civil engineer in South 
America — that she could evolve love letters by 
the peck without being found out. The in- 
terest of the piece lay in the spectators' 
ignorance of the truth, their gradual percep- 
tion of it, and their interested survey of the 
psychological liar's shufflings as she endeavors 
to get herself out of a bad fix. Everything 
is in keeping with the type ; her vigorous ef- 
forts to preserve her credit in the eyes of 
her family, the entire absence of shame with 
which she faces the young man's amazed per- 
ception of the sort of species she is, and her 
continued impulse toward sustaining the in- 
vention, all are thoroughly in accord with the 
curious mental perversions of the psycho- 
logical liar. 

Helene Sullivan acted the piece admirably, 
cleverly conveying to the interested spectators 
a perception of the queer uncertainties of 
mood in which Ann's suitor-camouflage had 
plunged her. We were puzzled, expectant, 
waiting curiously for the solution. And when 
it came we recognized its vraisemblance to 
life types. 

A promising little actress is Ruth Ham- 
mond, fresh-spirited and eager in her work ; 
outwardly a little too much so sometimes, but 
unfailing in the vividness with which she 
stamps her impersonations upon our con- 
sciousness. 

By request, "The Game of Chess" was re- 
peated, again making a marked impression as 
high-class although old-fashioned melodrama. 
It belongs to the era of old Russia as we 
imagined it, now, we hope, forever passed 
away. The piece shows Mr. Maitland to ad- 
vantage as the ruthless Russian prince to whom 
a peasant's death is as the brushing away of 
an intrusive fly. With his well-shaped head, 
fine, straight nose, and slender shape, he 
looked the patrician, and he read the lines 
with a melancholy cadence appropriate to 
the cold aristocrat who has exhausted all 
sensation and has nothing left but personal 
pride to stimulate him to his best endeavor. 
Perhaps some actors would make the melan- 
choly less strongly insisted on than the cold, 
heartless mockery of the patrician who so 
disdains his peasant opponent, but it tends to 
soften our attitude toward him ; which, as he 
is the protagonist of the piece, is as it should 
be. 

The last piece on the programme, entitled 
"The Honor of America," goes more like a 
bit of recruiting propaganda than a play. It 
has more talk than action, but since it tends 
to lead up to a state of mind appropriate 
to these tense and terrible times of war, when 
every man and woman must acquire the moral 
as well as the physical courage to face fast- 



crowding responsibilities, I rather think that 
the young actor-manager selected "The Honor 
of America" both patriotically and wisely. 



"THE FOUL REFINER." 



One of the American war correspondents 
who early in the war had been companioning 
with officers in the armies of the belligerent 
nations spoke of a strange realization that 
seemed to dwell in their eyes; an ever-present 
yet calm knowledge that they were within 
close reach of the grasp of death. It was, in 
fact, exactly what Allan Seeger expressed in 
his poem, "A Rendezvous with Death." Our 
young men on this side have not yet reached 
that point, and some of them never will. Too 
much imagination can be a bane to a potential 
soldier. 

But it is the men who have been on the 
edge of the abyss of flame and looked deep 
into its lurid depths who have come away 
realizing a new heaven and a new earth. 
Each man who has lived through the tragedy 
must bear the marks of it according to his 
nature ; but can any save the most soulless 
find themselves unchanged? 

The American type — we are trying to place 
it. Never before has the American youth 
from all over the country passed before us in 
such multitudinous review. It divides itself 
into sub-types, but generally speaking it is 
hot-headed, good-humored, full of animal 
spirits, generous in its emotions, and charac- 
terized by the headlong chivalry easy to a 
nation in which plenty has hitherto prevailed. 
But American youth seems to deteriorate as 
it matures. The American business man, the 
professional, the politician, allowing for a due 
proportion of the instinctively refined, the 
finicky, the intellectual, or the semi-spiritual- 
ized, is apt to be a thick-jowled, hearty, genial 
materialist whose countenance expresses a 
certain lack of scruple and a love of gain for 
the pleasure and power it purchases. 

In a few months our men will be returning 
invalided. We will then see in their young 
faces that haggard perception of the horrors 
that can be that we have noticed in the eyes 
of some of the French officers who have lived 
through the inferno. Some have, strangely 
enough, retained a normally cheerful and 
matter-of-fact outlook. But when they have 
addressed various gatherings of their own 
compatriots, women of the Salon Francais. 
or American men at downtown assemblages, 
people have observed signs of the shadow over 
their youth. 

The outward evidences of that shadow will 
pass. But it is impossible not to believe that 
the youth of the world which is at present 
passing by the million into that vast shadow 
which borders so closely on the confines of 
death will, after the war, set itself to a great 
task : that of reforming the political ways of 
the world. It is not one or two nations only, 
but the world itself, that has been the great 
sinner. And for its sins the present genera- 
tion is paying the cost. But when nearly all 
the civilized nations of the world have suf- 
fered through their sons and daughters there 
is hope that a new type of humanity will 
evolve, and that the greater injustices of the 
past will forever pass away. 

Josephine Hart Phelps. 

— •■»■ 

Lemin Recitals. 

Edwin H. Lemare will give his forty-ninth 
recital on the municipal organ at the Expo- 
sition Auditorium this Sunday afternoon at 3 
o'clock, and everything points to a larger at- 
tendance than usual. The people of San Fran- 
cisco are gradually awaking to the fact that 
one of the greatest artistic assets ever pos- 
sessed by any community is ours, although 
the stranger within our gates who goes to 
the Auditorium to one of these feasts of mel- 
ody usually marvels at the comparatively small 
attendance. However, an energetic body of 
women workers is joining hands with the au- 
ditorium committee of the board of super- 
visors for the purpose of stimulating interest 
in the concerts, and next Tuesday morning, 
at 11 o'clock, there will be a mass meeting 
at the Fairmont Hotel for the purpose of 
perfecting plans for obtaining big audiences 
at the recitals. Mr. Lemare himself will ad- 
dress the meeting, to which all interested m 
good music are cordially invited. 

Sunday's programme will be made up en- 
tirely of numbers from Mr. Lemare's large 
list of compositions, and after the introduc- 
tory "Star-Spangled Banner" will be as fol- 
lows : Marche Heroique, Nocturne in B mi- 
nor, Bell Scherzo, Adagio from the Second 
Symphony in D minor, Intermezzo (Moon- 
light), Pastorale in E, Improvisation, Con- 
certstuck (written in the form of a Taran- 
tella). 

It costs but ten cents to attend and the 
Auditorium should be crowded to the doors. 
In addition to the Sunday afternoon events 
a recital is given every Thursday evening at 
8:15. 



Teacher — Johnny, can you tell me where 
Lake Ontario is? Pupil — Yessurn. Page 18. 
— Philadelphia Telegraph. 



THE 

DE VALLY CLASSES 

IN OPERATIC AND LYRIC ART 

BLAKE & AMBER, Management 
ANTOINE V. K. DE VALLY, Director 

Studio and Recital Hall 

Eilers Building, 975 Market St. 

San Francisco, Cal. 

Phone Douglas 400 



The Little Theatre. 

The plays to be offered in the Little The- 
atre of the Players' Club at 3209 Clay Street 
hold a keen interest, as all are new to San 
Francisco. 

"Joint Owners in Spain" is a delightful 
comedy by one of America's* greatest novelists 
and playwrights, Alice Brown. The charac- 
ter work in it is especially fine, and the lines 
hold a delicious humor. In the cast will be 
Olivia Hall, Rosetta Baker, Alisa Stevenson, 
and Marion Cumming. 

Another comedy o f unusual interest is 
"Ruby Red," having an Oriental setting. 
This play will be in the hands of Rafaele 
Brunetto, a finished and gifted actor; Ben- 
jamin Purrington, the talented playwright and 
composer of popular patriotic songs, and Mrs. 
Lucy Alanson Smith and Carolyn Caro, who 
will alternate in the leading role of the easily 
duped American wife. Mary Ritson and 
Marion Fisher will appear alternately as the 
alluring Oriental dancer. 

Of interest is the production of "Christ- 
mas on the Border," by Colonel R. C. Crox- 
ton of the Presidio. It is a military play, 
in which soldiers from the Presidio will ap- 
pear. The scene of the stirring little drama 
takes place on the Mexican border. 

A harlequinade, "The Merry Death," by the 
famous Russian dramatist, Nicholas Evreinov, 
will also be given. An unusual opportunity 
is offered William S. Rainey in the role of 
Pierrot. This young actor has at last yielded 
to the call of the professional stage and has 
made a brilliant success at the Alcazar. The 
talented actor too rarely seen, Dion Holm, 
will have the role of Harlequin. Mrs. Caro- 
lyn Green and Dorothy Wetmore will alter- 
nate as Columbine. Claire Thompson, a 
charming professional dancer, and lovely 
Mary Lafler will alternate as Death, giving 
the Dance of Death. 

Elmer Stanley Hader, the local landscape 
and portrait artist, will have the artistic set- 
tings under his supervision. 

Concert numbers by the Players' Club or- 
chestra will be given between the plays. 

The plays will be given every night for one 
week, beginning Monday evening, January 
28th. A special matinee will be staged on 
Saturday. 



The Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. 

Director Emil Oberhoffer of the Minneapo- 
lis Symphony Orchestra has arranged an at- 
tractive series of programmes for presenta- 
tion here during his coming visit. The Min- 
neapolis Symphony concerts will take place 
at the Columbia Theatre on Thursday and 
Friday afternoons, February 7th and 8th, and 
at the Tivoli Opera House on Sunday morn- 
ing, February 10th, and concerts will be given 
in Oakland on Saturday afternoon and night, 
February 9th, at the Auditorium Opera House. 
On Thursday afternoon and Sunday morning 
Reinald Werrenrath, the world-famous Ameri- 
can baritone, will be the special soloist ; on 
Friday afternoon Margaret Namara, the 
famous coloratura soprano, will be the vocal 
feature, and Cornelius Van Vliet, 'cellist, and 
Richard Czerwonky, violinist, will be the Oak- 
land soloists. 

The Oakland evening programme will be 
given as the fourth event of the artists' series 
of the Oakland Teachers' Association, and the 
programme will include Dvorak's "New 
World" symphony, Chadwick's "My Jubilee," 
Grieg's "Peer Gynt" suite, Tschaikowsky's 
"1S12" overture, and the Vieuxtemps "Ballade 
and Polonaise" for violin and orchestra, with 
Richard Czerwonky as soloist. 

Tickets for these ^musical events are now 
on sale at Sherman, Clay & Co.'s in San 
Francisco and Oakland, at the office of Kohler 
& Chase, and the Columbia ticket office in 
this city. Selby C. Oppenheimer is the man- 
ager of the concerts, and information other 
than the above may be had from him at Sher- 
man, Clay & Co.'s. 



M. Rousseau, the French naval expert, 
states in the Temps in reference to a recent 
visit to British centres of shipbuilding activity, 
that at Fairfield Yard. Govan, he saw with 
wonder and amazement "the extraordinary di- 
mensions of certain new British warships, be- 
sides which the size of the Queen Elisabeth 
and Tiger would seem very modest." 



January 26, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



59 



FOYER AND BOX-OFFICE. 



The Seventh "Pop" Concert. 

Alfred Hertz will offer an appealing pro- 
gramme at the seventh "Pop" concert of the 
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, to be 
given at the Cort Theatre Sunday afternoon, 
January 27th, a programme that is certain to 
prove quite as popular as that given a fort- 
night ago, when the Cort capacity was taxed 
to its limits. 

Particular interest will attach to the per- 
formance of Victor Herbert's "Irish Rhap- 
sody" at the coming "Pop," the first work of 
the popular composer yet programmed by 
Hertz. 

The always-liked overture to "The Merry 
Wives of Windsor,'' by Nicolai, is certain to 
be received with favor, as is the ballet music 
from Massenet's "Le Cid." The latter em- 
braces seven Spanish dances, of a variety of 
rhythms, and wholly charming. "The Voices 



CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY 

TUESDAY AFTERNOON, JAN. 29, al 3:15 

ITALIAN ROOM-HOTEL ST. FRANCIS 

Programme: 
Debussy — Quartet for strings, G minor 
Leclair — Sonata for flute, viola and piano 
Foote — Quartet for piano and strings 
Tickets on sale S. F. Symphony Box-Office, 
Sherman, Clay & Co., and at the Italian Room 
on Concert afternoon, $1 and $1.50. 



SYMPHOtfY 

ORCHESTRA 

Alfred Hertz Conductor. 

7th "POP" CONCERT 
Cort Theatre 

SUNDAY AFT., JAN. 27, at 2:30 Sharp 

Programme — Overture, "Merry Wives of 
Windsor," Nicolai; Largo from "New World" 
Symphony, Dvorak; Ballet Music from "Le 
Cid," Massenet; "Voices of Forest," from 
"Siegfried," Wagner; British Folk Song Set- 
tings, Grainger; Irish Rhapsody, Victor Her- 
bert. 

Prices— 25c, 50c, 75c, $1. Tickets at Sher- 
man, Clay & Co.'s except concert day; at Cort 
on concert day only. 

Next — Feb. 1 and 3, 9th Pair Symphonies. 



O 



RPHFIIM O'FARREL STREET 
1\1 11LU1U itixm Stockton sii Powell 



Week Beginning This Sunday Afternoon 

Matinee Every Day 
A SPLENDID NEW BILL 

FOUR MARX BROTHERS and Company 
Present the Musical Comedy, "Home Again"; 
BESSIE REMPEL and Players in Harriet 
Rempel's Symbolic Playlet, "You"; GEORGE 
AUSTIN MOORE and CORDELIA HAAGER, 
"From Texas to Kentucky"; COMFORT and 
KING in "Coontown Divorcons"; FRANK 
CRUMIT, "the One Man Glee Club"; FIVE 
OF CLUBS in "Pierrot's Dream"; DOC 
O'NEILL with His New Laugh Prescriptions; 
TOOTS PAKA and Her Hawaiian Singers 
and Instrumentalists; ALAN BROOKS in the 
Comedy-Dramalet, "Dollars and Sense." 

Evening prices, 10c, 25c, 50c, 75c. Mati- 
nee prices (except Saturdays, Sundays and 
holidays), 20c, 25c, 50c. Phone — Douglas 70. 



fOLUMBIA THEATRE H&2? 

^^Geary and Mason Su. Phone Franklin 150 

Two Weeks — Beginning Monday, January 28 
The Eminent Actor 

JOHN E. KELLERD 

In Shakespearean Revivals 

Mon. and Thurs. nights and Wed. mat. 

"HAMLET" 

Tues. and Fri. nights and Sat. mat. 

"THE MERCHANT OF VENICE" 

Wed. and Sat. nights 

"MACBETH" 

Second week — "The Bells," "Othello," etc. 



Cora 



Leading Theatre 

ELLIS AND MARKET 

Phone Sutter 2460 



2d and Last Week Starts Sun. eve., Jan. 27 

OLIVER MOROSCO'S 

Never-Dying Dramatic Triumph 

"THE BIRD OF PARADISE" 

By Richard Walton Tully 
Author of "Omar the Tentmaker" 
Nights and Sat. mat., 25c to §1.50 
BEST SEATS $1.00 WED. MAT. 

Next— Feb. 4th, HARRY LAUDER. 



The Little Theatre 

3209 CLAY STREET 

Presents Four One - Act Plays 
One Week Commencing Jan. 28 

JOINT OWNERS IN SPAIN 

By Alice Brown 
RUBY RED 

By Clarence Stratton 

CHRISTMAS ON THE BORDER 

By Colonel R. C. Croxton 
THE MERRY DEATH 

By Nicholas Evreinov 
SATURDAY MATINEE 2:30 

Seats on sale at Kohler & Chase and 3209 Clay 
Street. Tel. West 4480. 



of the Forest," from "Siegfried," one of the 
most popular excerpts from a Wagner opera, 
will be given for the first time here by Hertz. 

Dvorak will be represented by the Largo 
from the "New World," the movement which 
made the most general appeal at the recent 
enthusiastic reception of this symphony. 
Three of Percy Grainger's exuberant British 
Folk Song Settings — "Irish Tune from County 
Derry," "Molly On the Shore," and "Shep- 
herds' Hey" — are further happy selections on 
Hertz' part. The playing of the national an- 
them in stirring manner will, of course, be a 
feature. 

San Francisco will hear Florent Schmitt's 
"Rhapsodie Viennoise" at the ninth pair of 
regular symphonies on Friday afternoon, Feb- 
ruary 1st, and Sunday afternoon, February 3d. 
In this work the brilliant French composer 
has elaborated a charming Viennese waltz in 
extraordinary manner for the modern orches- 
tra. Mozart's Symphony in E flat major, De- 
bussy's "Afternoon of a Faun," and Abert's 
arrangement of a Bach Prelude and Fugue, to 
which has been added a Choral by Abert, will 
be the remaining offerings. 



Shakespeare's Plays at the Columbia Theatre. 
The revivals of Shakespeare's plays at the 
Columbia Theatre by John E. Kellerd will be 
an event of importance to lovers of the classic 
drama. For years he has occupied a domi- 
nating position as a Shakespearean actor in 
the East, although this is his first tour of the 
Pacific Coast. For the present tour Mr. Kel- 
lerd has surrounded himself with a company 
of unusual strength. The repertory for the 
engagement includes five plays. For the first 
week "Hamlet" is to be staged on Monday 
and Thursday nights and at the matinee on 
Wednesday. "The Merchant of Venice" is an- 
nounced for Tuesday and Friday nights and 
Saturday matinee, and "Macbeth" for Wednes- 
day and Saturday nights. Owing to the length 
of the "Hamlet" performance the curtain will 
rise at 8:10 on Monday night. 



"The Bird of Paradise" at the Cort. 

"The Bird of Paradise," Oliver Morosco's 
spectacular romance of the Hawaiian Islands, 
from the pen of Richard Walton Tully, author 
of "Omar, the Tentmaker," enters upon the 
second and final week of its successful en- 
gagement at the Cort Theatre with the per- 
formance of Sunday night, January 27th. 

"The Bird of Paradise" is one of the real 
novelties of the theatre, and despite the fact 
that it is now making its seventh tour of this 
country, its appeal is apparently as great as 
ever. 

The pathetic love story of pretty Luana, the 
Hawaiian princess, for the American doctor, 
Paul Wilson, is wonderfully compelling. 
Against the story there is a background of 
native costume, island politics, missionary 
methods, and a brief survey of that far-off 
Pacific industry, beach-combing. 

The scenic effects are most elaborate, the 
eruption of Mount Pele remaining the most 
startling effect of its kind known to the stage. 

Marion Hutchins, Forrest Stanley, and a 
cast that is excellently balanced interpret the 
play. 

Godowsky's Return Concerts Notable Events. 
The return concerts to be given in this city 
and Oakland by Leopold Godowsky will be 
notable events. Godowsky is conceded to be 
the most important pianist now before the 
public. To hear an artist of this calibre play 
is an integral part of one's education, and 
teachers, recognizing this, are insisting on 
their pupils availing themselves of the rare 
opportunity afforded by his too seldom visits. 
On Thursday afternoon, January 31st, Godow- 
sky will play an extended programme from 
Schumann, Brahms, Grieg, Chopin, Balakirieff, 
Ravel, and Liszt. 

On Friday afternoon, February 1st, at the 
Oakland Auditorium Opera House, the pro- 
gramme will include the Beethoven op. 81 
Sonata ; Brahms' Rhapsody, op. 79, No. 2 ; 
Shakespeare's Serenade, by Schubert-Liszt ; 
Chopin's famous B flat minor Sonata, a won- 
derful group of three Preludes, three Etudes, 
a nocturne, and a Scherzo, and works by Hen- 
selt, Henselt-Godowsky, Scriabin, Moszkow- 
ski, and .the Schubert-Taussig "Marche Mili- 
taire." Tickets are now selling for both 
events at the usual Oppenheimer ticket offices. 



entitle their act, which is a fascinating assort- 
ment of songs and stories, "From Texas to 
Kentucky." They are among the most de- 
lightful entertainers in vaudeville. 

Comfort and King will present their colored 
classic, "Coontown Divorcons." As delineators 
of negro characters they are excellent. 

Frank Crumit calls himself "The One Man 
Glee Club." He is a comedian who can sing, 
play several instruments, and tell any number 
of good stories. 

"Five of Clubs" in "A Pierrot's Dream" 
should not be confounded with playing cards. 
They are four men and one woman who are 
responsible for a pretty juggling novelty. 

Doc O'Neill will present the audience with 
his hew humorous sketches. His hearers will- 
ingly surrender to his delightful nonsense. 

Toots Paka and her Hawaiian Singers and 
dancers and Alan Brooks in his great cumedy 
hit, "Dollars and Sense," will complete an 
entertainment of extraordinary merit, novelty, 
and variety. 

The St. Francis Little Theatre. 

For the seventeenth week of its very suc- 
cessful season the St. Francis Little Theatre, 
which has Arthur Maitland as its directing 
head, will offer three novel one-act plays new 
to this city. The performances are an- 
nounced for Wednesday evening, January 
30th, and Thursday afternoon, January 31st, 
in the Colonial Ballroom of the St. Francis 
Hotel. 

"Streaks of Light," which will be the open- 
ing bill, is a little tragedy of great power and 
keen psychological interest, by Herman 
Sudermann. It deals with the love of a youth 
for a married woman. The latter might be 
termed a unique type of "vampire," and un- 
usual demands will be made upon the fine 
abilities of Helene Sullivan, to whom has 
been entrusted the role. 

In "The Old Ragpicker" Theodore Dreiser 
tells a quaint story of the decline of a man 
of position, through loss of his mental powers, 
to the most humble of lots. A street scene, 
with its shifting throngs, calls for all the re- 
sources of the St. Francis Little Theatre. 

The concluding number will be "Barbara," 
by Kenneth Sawyer Goodman. "Barbara" is 
a deliciously amusing satire on the advice- 
giving butler, something after the manner of 
Stanley Houghton's Phipps. Maitland will 
play the butler and Helene Sullivan and Al- 
bert Morrison will have congenial parts. 

The matinee performances are open to the 
public and their popularity is constantly on 
the increase. 

Harry Lauder Coming: to Cort. 
Harry Lauder, undoubtedly the greatest 
"single" entertainer in the world, comes to 
the Cort Theatre on Monday, February 4th, 
under the direction of William Morris. It is 
announced that this is his farewell tour of 
America. His engagements have been tri- 
umphs everywhere, not only for his singing of 
Scotch songs and his inimitable drolleries, but 
for his war talks, which have aroused great 
enthusiasm. While here Lauder will devote 
every moment of his spare time to the Inter- 
national Y. M. C. A., speaking to the soldiers 
in the cantonments and telling them what 
their brothers in arms are doing for the cause 
of humanity and democracy in France. 
Lauder's Cort engagement is limited to six 
night and five matinee performances. 



The New Bill at the Orpheum. 

The Orpheum bill for next week will be 
headed by the Four Marx Brothers, supported 
by a company of eleven people. They will ap- 
pear in the musical comedy, "Home Again," 
which is an excellent vehicle for their versa- 
tile abilities. 

Bessie Rempel, with the aid of her com- 
pany, will present "You," a playlet which cre- 
ated a sensation in the East. Its purpose is 
to show that every one possesses a real and 
artificial self and that usually people say what 
they do not mean, rarely disclosing their true 
selves. Miss Rempel gives a clever and fasci- 
nating performance of "Everygirl."" 

George Austin Moore and Cordelia Haager 



Yvette Guilbert Will Impersonate Pierrot. 
As a special feature of the first of her 
series of San Francisco recitals, which will 
be given at the Scottish Rite Hall, Mme. Guil- 
bert will impersonate the character of Pierrot, 
which she has but recently added to her reper- 
tory. Not the Pierrot of the comedies, but a 
new and real Pierrot, bubbling with real life 
and love and allegorically living the struggles 
of a New France against its oppressor. He 
has experienced the pangs of hunger, and he 
has known love disappointed; he no longer 
grimaces for mere fun, no longer is he purely 
Pierrot the mountebank, but Pierrot the 
thinker, the idealist, impersonating the soul 
of man. The balance of the programme of 
Mme. Guilbert's first recital, which will be 
given on Sunday afternoon, February 3d, is 
composed of the "Great Songs of Great 
France," all appropriately costumed in the 
gowns of the periods they represent and in- 
cluding the legend of St. Bertha, the armless 
servant given arms so as to assist at the birth 
of the Savior, the Ballade of the wicked rich, 
a group of popular French chansons, etc. On 
Wednesday night, February 6th, the second 
programme will be given, and this will include 
groups of songs showing the different French 
types, the peasant, dwellers of the Montmarte, 
the Quartier Latin, and special works by 
Maurice Rollinat, Jean Richepin, and others. 
The final recital takes place on Saturday 
afternoon, February 9th, and the programmed 
works concern the army and navy life of the 
great French republic from the time of Joan 
of Arc, through the periods of the different 
Louis, to the present day. 

Emily Gresser, the charming young vio- 
linist, who was Mme. Guilbert's assisting artist 




Qttj* (gotten f tjeaHanl 

32-36 Geary Street 

SAN FRANCISCO J 



The Restaurant Refined 

Candies and Cake s of Character 

Ons of San Francisco's Unique 
Places, in which prevails the 
old-fashioned idea of providing 
excellent food and courteous 
service at moderate prices. 

Breakfast, Luncheon, Tea and Dinner 

Manufacturers of "Small Blacks" 



on her last visit, is again aiding the re- 
nowned song-actress, and will offer a number 
of selections on all of the programmes. 
Maurice Eisner, one of America's foremost 
piano accompanists, has been specially se- 
cured for the present tour. Tickets for the 
three Guilbert recitals are now on sale at 
Sherman, Clay & Co.'s and Kohler & Chase's, 
the attraction being under the management of 
Selby C. Oppenheimer. 



The France and Canada Steamship Com- 
pany of New York has bought and now con- 
trols the largest sailing schooner fleet in the 
world. During the past year this company 
has purchased nearly 50,000 tons of schooner 
bottoms. 




Leopold 

ODOWSKY 



PIAN 1ST 
COLUMBIA THEATRE 
Next Thursday Aft. 

Schumann ("Symphonic Etudes"). Brahms. 
Gri j ir, Chopin, Ravel. Balakirieff. Liszt, etc. 

Tickets $2. 11.50. $1. at Sherman. Clay & Co., 
Kohler & chase and theatre. 



Godowsky in OAKLAND— A P u ^ to fiZ. 

Next Friday Night (Feb. 1) 

Beethoven op. 81 and Chopin B flat minor 
sonatas, etc. 

Same prices. Tickets at Sherman, Clay *fe 
Co., Oakland. 



Knabe Piano Used. 



YVETTE 
GUILBERT 

Celebrated Interpreter of Songs. 

SCOTTISH RITE AUDITORIUM 
(Van Ness and Sutter) 
Sunday Aft., Feb- 3, at 2:30 
Wednesday Eve. Feb. 6, at 8:15 
Saturday Aft., Feb. 9, at 2:30 
Tickets $2, $1.50 and $1, on sale at 

usual offices. 
Knabe Piano Used. 

Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra 

EMIL OBERHOFFER. Conductor 
COLUMBIA THEATRE, Thursday aft., Feb. 7— 

Sibelius, No. 1 Symphony, etc. Reinald 
Werr^nrath, baritone, soloist. 

COLUMBIA THEATRE, Friday aft., Feb. 8- 
Cesar Franck Symphony, etc. Margaret 
Namara, coloratiirn soprano, soloist. 

TIVOLl OPERA HOUSE, Sunday morning, 
Feb. 10— Tschaikovvsky "Manfred" Sym- 
phony, etc. Werrenrath, soloist. 
Prices— Columbia : $2, $1.50 and $l, 
Tivoli: $2. $1.50. $1 and 50C. 



OAKLAND CONCERTS 
AUDITORIUM OPERA HOUSE 

Saturday Aft. and Night, Feb. 9 



Coming— ZIMB A LIST, Russian Violinist. 



St Francis Little Theatre Club 

Direction of Mr. Arthur Maitland 

Colonial Ballroom, Hotel St. Francis 

Desires to state that the matinees which are 
given once a week by Mr. Maitland and a 
company o£ professional playeri are open to 
the public. Three playlets by the world's best 
authors are given on each programme. 

ADMISSION, ONE DOLLAR 

Evening performances are for members 
only. Application for membership can be made 
to the committee, Room 875, St. Francis 
Hotel. 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 26. 1918. 




t. Ta^ialpias IAxutaccc AcADEMy 

SAN RAFAEL ■ CALIFORNIA 



Fifty-sixth Semester in session, with twenty-five new boys and 
only one old cadet withdrawn. 



VANITY FAIR. 

Dr. Shaw, taking advantage of the present 
'stagnation of world affairs and the consequent 
; dreary leisureliness of Congress to advance 
1 a little matter of national suffrage, -says 
"women are not pacifists in the sense in 
which that word is used at the present time." 
Dr. Shaw does not venture into the deep 
waters of definition. She does not .give us her 
conception of a pacifist. Possibly she has 
none, or possibly it is changeable. Was it 
not Dr. Shaw who said that "Susan B. An- 
thony would have made a better executive 
than Abraham Lincoln" ? The record so 
stands. It is quite likely that the women rep- 
resented by Dr. Shaw — a very small number 
" — are not pacifists, nor anything else except 
emotionalists, and emotionalism is a sort of 
frantic and infuriating force that is thrown 
without discrimination upon either side of a 
question and that is rarely modified either by 
vision or intelligence. The same woman who 
was hysterically eager to dress in white robes 
and sing carols between the rival lines in 
Flanders will now be found devising hideous 
torments for the Kaiser. The nation has suf- 
fered more from the emotionalism of good 
women than from the measured plottings of 
bad men. 

Mrs. Catt is presumably included in Dr. 
Shaw's plea of not guilty of pacifism. But 
Mrs. Catt said, "We are loath to recognize the 
Red Cross because it comes from war." Mrs. 
Catt also defended Miss Rankin for her vote 
against war with Germany on the ground that 
"if Miss Rankin voted for war, she would 
offend the pacifists ; if she voted against it, 
she would offend the militarists." Mrs. Catt 
evidently supposes that every one who is not 
a pacifist must be a militarist. If I inter- 
fere with a drunken brute who is murdering 
a baby, I am a militarist. If I do not inter- 
fere, I am a pacifist. What these good 
women seem to need more than anything else 
is a clarification of their alleged mental pro- 
cesses. 



It has been the experience in France that 
the godmothers very quickly forget the god- 
sons when the novelty has worn away. The 
end of the godson is then worse than the be- 
ginning, because he feels neglected and looks 
forward hungrily for the letters that do not 
come. It would be the same here. Goa- 
mothering would be a fad of a day. just one 
more titter and thrill for useless minds. 

The French soldier is pitifully lacking in 
everything but the barest necessities of life. 
The American soldier will have everything 
that a wealthy and paternal government can 
give him. He does not need godmothers, and 
probably would not want them. 



One of the postcards most popular at the 
present time with Germans who are disposed to 
try to make light of the empire's food dif- 
ficulties is one bearing the following recipe 
for preparing a war meal : "Dip the meat 
'card in the egg card and bake it in the but- 
ter card to a nice brown on both sides. The 
vegetable card is to be steamed with the 
flour card until partly tender and then cooked 
with the potato card until done. For dessert 
the left-over pieces of the dough card are to 
be sprinkled with the cheese card, covered 
with some small pieces of extra cards, and 
served with the pitted fruit card. Then put 
the potato card in boiling water, add the milk 
card, dissolve the sugar card in it. and throw- 
in some toasted crumbs of a white bread 
card. Be sure to remember that the kitchen 
tire is to be made with a coal card and your 
hands washed with a soap card and dried on 
a clothing card." 



The War Department does not intend to 
furnish the names of soldiers for purposes 
of godmothering. So says an official bulletin, 
and we give three cheers. The weekly dis- 
patch to France of some half-million boxes 
of absurd candy and chewing-gum was not a 
vision that the transport departments could 
view with equanimity. 

Admiral Togo, who knew something of 
righting, forbade his wife to write to him 
during war. and he did not write to her. He 
said that nothing must interfere with the 
concentration of his mind upon his duties. 
What Togo would have said to boxes of candy 
may be left to the imagination. 



COOK'S TOURS 



JAPAN : CHINA 
THE PHILIPPINES 

and 

SOUTH SEAS 

Departures January to April, 1918 
SEND FOR BOOKLET 

THOS. COOK & SON 

689 MARKET ST., SAN FRANCISCO 

Tel. Kearny 3512 



Upon the subject of "The Oldest Joke" in 
the world E. V, Lucas is characteristically 
and inimitably discursive in his new book, "A 
Boswell of Baghdad," announced for early 
publication by the George H. Doran Company. 
What is the oldest joke in the world? Why, 
clearly, something about the face of the other 
person involved. It is improbable, the author 
admits, that Adam and Eve were rude about 
one another's faces : even now "matrimonial 
invective does not ordinarily take this form." 
But by the time cousins had come into the 
world "the facial jest" began ; and ever since 
then it has been universally considered a su- 

! preme witticism to remark that you consider 
your friend's face deplorable. Hence follow 

1 anecdotes : 

"At a dinner party given by a certain hos- 
pitable lady who remained something of an 
enfant terrible to the end of her long life, 
she drew the attention of one of her guests, 
by no means too cautiously, to the features of 
another guest, a bishop of great renown. 
'Isn't his face,' she asked, in a deathless sen- 
tence, 'like the inside of an elephant's foot ?' 
I have not personally the honor of this di- 
vine's acquaintance, but all my friends who 
have met or seen him assure me that the 
similitude is exact. Another lady, happily 
still living, said of the face of an acquaint- 
ance, that it was 'not so much a face as a 
part of her person which she happened to 
leave uncovered, by which her friends were 
able to recognize her.' A third, famous for 
her swift analyses, said that a certain would- 
be beauty might have a title to good looks but 
for 'a rush of teeth to the head.' I do not 
quote these admirable remarks merely as a 
proof of woman's natural kindliness, but to 
show how even among the elect — for all three 
speakers are of more than common culture — 
the face joke holds sway." 



ROYAL NAILS 

NEDERLAND * ROTTERDAM 

NEUTRAL FLAG 

Joint Pacific Service (1st. 2cd and 3rd Cabin* 

YOKOHAMA. .Via HcnoVu) Kofce. Nagasaki 

SinglcSlOO YOKOHAMA (2d Cabin) $150 R. T. 

HON', KONG. #y|Ut and 

SINGAPORE ^nlNA BATAVIA 

SAILINGS FROM SAN FRANCISCO 



AVALEIJAPAN 

J. D. SPRECKELS & BROS. CO. 
601 Market St.. S. F. 



In honor of the Portuguese national poet, 
a "Camoens Professorship" is to be founded 
in the University of London, on the lines of 
the recently established Cervantes Chair of 
Spanish. The proposed department will in- 
clude studies in Portuguese and Brazilian his- 
tory and finance, in the economic and indus- 
trial problems of Portuguese -speaking coun- 
tries, their laws, banking, and monetary sys- 
tems. A special departmental library will 
serve as a centre for Portuguese and Bra- 
zilian students resident in London, and bring 
them into touch with English students inter- 
ested in these countries. 



COURTESY AMONG AIR WARRIORS. 



Spirit of Chivalry Is Strone- 



A hollow square of men, bareheaded and 
motionless, in horizon blue, stand around the 
open grave : above two avions wheel and 
bank. Beside the new-turned earth lies a 
long wooden box, at its head a single figure 
in uniform speaking slowly, solemnly. Xo 
hostile plane comes near — if one sails into 
the grav vault overhead it passes respectfullv 
by. 

As the speaker ceases a half-dozen men 
step from the square and the long box is 
tenderly lowered. With the first motion a 
long-drawn moan, rising to a wailing shriek, 
supersedes the dull thudding of the avions' 
motors. Both dive headlong toward the grave 
shrieking weirdly, symbolizing and almost 
voicing the grief of the group on the ground. 
When but a few yards above the grave the 
wailing ceases, the planes suddenly sweep al- 
most straight upward, as if to go up with the 
soul on the first steps of its long journey. 
They bank and wheel away, the group on the 
ground disperses, the grave is filled in. And 
now, if a Boche plane appears, it is to make 
trouble. 

Thus a French escadrille has paid the last 
honors to a fallen comrade. It is only in the 
air service, even in France, that such a spec- 
tacle is possible. The symbolism of the wail- 
ing planes and of the escort of the soul of 
the warrior may be foreign to the more di- 
rect mind of either Briton or German. But 
to the French it is always fitting to drama- 
tize such honor, and so the aviation service 
can still make a funeral an individual thing, 
and a ceremony. 

The right to remain an individual, whether 
in life or in death, is the one great distinc- 
tion that is given to the men in the most dan- 
gerous of the military services. Infantryman, 
artilleryman, engineer, all are swallowed up 
in the mass while living, and when the end 
comes it is a death by mass, too. and their 
very graves — if they have them — are shared 
with strangers. Even motorcycle corns and 
submarine raiders are teamed, and no one 
man stands or falls by himself. Aviation is 
the only service left where individual effort 
is at as great a premium as ever and where 
success and failure both depend on the man 
himself. In the air, in spite of every sort 
of squadron flying and teamwork, each man 
fights and wins or dies — alone. 

It is this distinction, probably, that has 
brought into the air fighting much of the 
spirit of the knights of old. In many ways 
the fighting aviators are living much the 
lives of the heroes of chivalry. Their war- 
fare is that of man to man, as much as was 
ever that of the armor-clad horsemen in the 
lists; they live with spectacular death, and 
they embody beyond all others the spirit of 
daily, hourly adventure. 

It is natural that the chivalric spirit should 
be strong. Even the Boche, treacherous and 
brutal in all other fighting, has felt its in- 
fluence and battles in the air with sportsman- 
ship and fairness. He does not quite main- 
tain the standards of the Allied pilots — of 
that more later — but he shows unmistakably 
that he is doing the best that his kultur will 
permit. 

Thus air fighting retains whatever is pos- 
sible in ^ life where the one object is to kill 
off consideration for the enemy and of cour- 
tesy and kindness. There is mutual respect 
and exchange of civilites much as there was 
between opposing knights. This is most fre- 
quently shown in the honor accorded to the 
dead, as in the fact that no German pilot 
would disturb the funeral of a French aviator. 
A remarkable instance came after the burial 
of Captain Boelke. 

When it was learned that the great Ger- 
man Ace had been brought down and was 
buried close behind the German lines. many- 
French pilots started out with wreaths of 
flowers to pay honor to their fallen foe. As 
they crossed the lines the German anti-air- 
craft guns sent up their usual shrapnel. The 
planes flew on amid the bursts until above the 
grave and then, still under fire, began to drop 
their wreaths. 

Immediately the firing ceased, and the 
pilots went through the same ceremonies as 
with one of our own dead : they would swoop 
down to within a few hundred feet of the 
ground, "wailing" their motors, and then 
chandai — soar upward — into the clouds. More 
than a dozen pilots paid this tribute, and all 
were permitted to return unmolested to their 
airdromes. The guns did not open fire again 
till they had disappeared. The next time 
they crossed the lines the battle went on as 
before. 

All enemy airmen receive this distinguished 
consideration. Men who are killed in other 
ranks are usually hidden in the nearest hole 
only the identification tag and valuables being 
removed to be sent to the government and 
returned through it to relatives. Bur with 
the airmen it is different. When the fallen 
aviator is a German there is less ceremony 
than for one of our own men, but far more 



than in the case of a member of any other 
service. He is given a Christian burial and 
a monument. This monument is always made 
from the propeller of his machine, the blades 
being fastened to form a cross, on which are 
inscribed his name, if known, and the date 
of his death. Courtesy does not permit the 
inscribing of the manner of his death, except 
that he fell in combat. 

The same thing is done for an Allied pilot 
who falls behind the German lines — and most 
of our men fall there, as the fighting has 
been carried always into German territory. 
W hen the great German retreat was made last 
spring the advancing Allied troops found 
many such graves which had been accorded the 
honors due them. — Toronto Globe. 



It is estimated that 100 pounds of freight 
per man per day must be unloaded at the 
port of debarkation of American troops in 
France. Therefore, when at the end of two 
years America has. say, one million men in 
France, it must unload daily 100,000,000 
pounds of freight, or 50,000 tons. 



WHY NOT JAPAN ? 

The traveler's fascinating peaceful 
haven, in a world of wild unrest — 
reached by an ideal ocean voyage, 
through serene, sunlit, semitropic seas. 

You will visit it some day. 

Learn about it now by 

reading "JAPAN"— 

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Ianuauy 26. 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



STORYETTES. 

Grave and Gay, Epierammatic and Otherwise. 

Mrs. All jaw was feeling sentimental and 

pensive. "When I die." said she to her hus- 
band, "I want you to have this sentence 
placed on my monument: "There is peace 
and quiet in heaven.' " "I think," rejoined 
Mr. Alljaw, "it would be more appropriate to 
say : "There was peace and quiet in heaven.' 



An intelligent Frenchman was studying the 
English language. "'When I discovered that if 
1 was quick I was fast." said he, "and that 
if I was tied I was fast, if I spent too freely 
[ was fast, I was discouraged. But when I 
came across the sentence, 'The first one won 
one dollar prize,' I was tempted to give up 
trying to learn English." 



Little Richard's mother took him for a 
visit to his grandparents. When bedtime ap- 
proached he was instructed to kiss each of 
his relatives good-night. He hesitated when 
he came to his grandfather, who wore a long, 
heavy beard. "Aren't you going to tell grand- 
father good-night, dear?" his mother asked. 
"No, mother, I can't." was the reply ; "there 
isn't any place to tell him." 



In Concord, New Hampshire, they tell of 
an old chap who made his wife keep a cash 
account. Each week he would go over it. 
growling and grumbling. On one such oc- 
casion he delivered himself of the following: 
"Look here, Sarah ; mustard-plasters, 50 
cents : three teeth extracted, $2. There's 
$2.50 in Qne week spent for your own private 
pleasure. Do you think I am made of 
money ?" 

Mrs. Schmidt took her large family of chil- 
dren to the city one day, and when lunch- 
time came she led them into a restaurant. 
"Waiter," she said, "one sirloin steak and 
seven plates." The waiter gave a start. Then 
he bent over Mrs. Schmidt and whispered, re- 
spectfully: "Beg pardon, madam, but if you 
and your family was to take that there table 
by the kitchen door and sniff hard I think 
you'd get more of a meal." 



An Irishman gave a 
vited a few of his 
chicken was set on the 
carving. "Well, Mary,' 
part would you like ?" 
she, "I'd like a leg." 
"Musha, Pat, I'd like a 
part would you favor, 
a leg, too." "Arrah," 
think it's a shpider I'm 



little dinner and in- 
intimate friends. A 
table and Pat began 
said he, "and what 
"Bedad, Pat," says 
"And you, Mike ?" 
leg, too." "And what 
Bridget?" "I'd like 
says Pat : "do you 
carvin' ?" 



A farm hand who had worked every day 
in the week from dawn till late at night, 
finishing the chores by lantern light, went to 
the farmer at the end of the month and said: 
"I'm going to quit. You promised me a 
steady job of work." "Well, haven't you 
one?" was the astonished reply. "No," said 
the worker. "There are three or four hours 
every night I don't have anything to do ex- 
cept fool away my time sleeping." 



"It is impossible to exactly imitate the voice 
of an animal." said Minns learnedly. "Some 
people reckon that they are very clever at it, 
but any one who knows can see that they are 
all out." "Who told you that yqu were a 
judge?" asked Sims. Then Minns got cross 
and offered to bet him half a sovereign that 
he could not execute even a plausible imita- 
tion of an animal. "Any member of the ani- 
mal kingdom?" queried Sims. "Yes," an- 
swered Minns. "Done for ten shillings?" ex- 
claimed Sims. He went to the middle of the 
room and the others awaited the result. Sims 
stood perfectly quiet for a minute, then re- 
turned to his seat and asked for the ten 



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trains between San Francisco 

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The electric automatic block signal system is 
operated with such a degree of acenracy and 
watchfulness as to seem almost superhuman. Out 
of an average of 300.000 indications each month 
not a single false movement was registered. 

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shillings. "What do you call that? That's no 
imitation." cried Minns. "Excuse me." ob- 
served Sims politely, "that was a fish." And 
the others insisted upon Minns parting with 
his money. 



Mark Twain and his peculiarites were being 
discussed by an English class in a high school. 
One youthful orator had very eloquently de- 
scribed Mark's personal appearance and had 
laid unusual stress on the author's fondness 
for wearing white flannels. "Gee!" said one 
much-interested youth. "I don't see how the 
public knows whether his flannels are red or 
white." 



In a certain Western state two fanners 
were conversing about their periodical trips to 
town. "How is it you no longer put up at 
the Golden Crown when you drive to mar- 
ket ?" "Why, they are regular take-ins,'' re- 
plied the second farmer. "Last winter, when 1 
lodged there for the night, they made a great 
fuss and gave me a big bottle to take to bed 
with me, and when I opened it, what d'ye 
think it was. Xothing but hot water." 



A party of visitors entered a metropolitan 
art studio. The curator, who was engaged in 
showing them around, was called away on 
business and left the guests in charge of one 
of the clerks. They were admiring a beauti- 
ful statue of translucent marble. Their guide 
dwelt upon the fine points of the statue, giv- 
ing the name of the sculptor, showing it from, 
every viewpoint. One of the visitors asked: 
"Alabaster, isn't it ?" "No ; Venus," he cor- 
rected. 



Percy, being down to recite at the tem- 
perance concert, stood up to do or die. He 
got along all right until he reached the words, 
"He stood beside the bier!" Then his mem- 
ory failed him. "He stood beside the bier," 
he repeated, trembling. The evil spirits on 
the back benches murmured one to another. 
"He stood beside the bier," groaned Percy, 
and drew a moist hand across his dripping 
forehead. "Go on," yelled a voice from the 
rear. "It'll go flat while you're waiting, you 
fool." 



Tom Callahan got a job on the section 
working for a railroad. The superintendent 
told him to go along the line looking for wash- 
outs. "And don't be so long-winded in your 
next reports as you have been in the past," 
said the superintendent ; "just report the con- 
dition of the roadbed as you find it, and don't 
use a lot of needless words that are not to 
the point. Write like a business letter, not 
like a love letter." Tom proceeded on his 
tour of inspection and when he reached the 
river he wrote his report to the superin- 
tendent: "Sir — Where the railroad was, the 
river is." 



This is the way the agent got a lesson in 
manners. He called at a business office and 
saw nobody but a prepossessing though 
capable appearing young woman. "Where's 
the boss?" he asked abruptly. "What is your 
business ?" she asked politely. "None of 
yours I" he snapped. "I got a proposition to 
lay before this firm, and I want to talk to 
somebody about it." "And you would rather 
talk to a gentleman ?" "Yes." "Well," an- 
swered the lady, smiling sweetly, "so would I. 
But it seems that it's impossible for either 
one of us to have our wish so we'll have to 
make the best of it. State your business, 
please." 



The old salt who took small parties out by 
the hour in his cockleshell boat had been 
much annoyed by the loud and fatuous re- 
marks of 'Arry, who had come down for the 
day. When just beyond the mile limit the 
old wreck began to leak. The boatman, how- 
ever, reassured the party — told them that 
there was no danger and was confident that 
they would reach the shore before the leak 
developed. To allay any further fears he 
handed around lifebelts. The party consisted 
of five, and there were only four belts. "Hi! 
Where's mine?" asked the terrified Cockney, 
who had dropped all his cheerful chipping of 
the old salt. "Don't you worry, my lad," said 
the boatman, "you don't need no lifebelt. A 
feller with an *ead as 'oiler as yourn can't 
sink." 



When the recent Interallied Conference in 
the interest of permanently disabled soldiers 
was concluded in Paris a party of delegates 
journeyed to England to inspect the great 
schools established there for the reeducation 
of men maimed in battle. One of these 
schools excited the visitors' admiration be- 
cause of its marvelous equipment and seem- 
ingly perfect management. This was all the 
more remarkable because the director of the 
school was a very young man. So much im- 
pressed were the visitors that before leaving 
they waited upon the youthful director and 
fairly showered him with praise, "It is both 
a great responsibility and a high honor to 



you, sir," said their spokesman, a distin- 
guished French scientist, "to have been placed 
at your age at the head of so important a 

school." "I agree with you, Dr. , but 

in times past I have had occasion to direct 
matters even more important than these," re- 
plied the young man, who was none other 
than the ex-King Manuel of Portugal. 



"I left England a political slave ; I shall 
return to it a free woman," remarked Mrs. 
Pankhurst recently at a meeting of Russian 
suffragists. "But," she continued gravely, "it 
is not the possession of the vote that counts, 
it is the knowing how to use it." And in 
order to illustrate her contention she pro- 
ceeded to tell the story of the pedestrian who 
had nearly been run over by a taxi. "You 
don't know how to drive?" cried the angry 
mrm. as he brushed the mud from his clothes. 
"Don't I?" cried the no less infuriated driver. 
"Here's my driver's certificate." "I don't be- 
lieve it's yours," was the retort. "Not 
mine!" gasped the indignant driver. "Why I 
bought it from a pal who's gone into the 
army, and paid him for it." 



THE MERRY MUSE. 



Marriage. 
Formerly: Cupid. 
Now: Cupidity. 
Then : Matrimony. 
Now: A matter of money. 
And, as for alimony, 
She wants all the money. 

— Town Topics. 



French in the Trenches. 
I have a conversation book; I brought it out from 

home, 
It tells you the French for knife and fork and 

likewise brush and comb; 
It learns you how to ask the time, the names 

of all the stars, 
And how to order oysters and how to buy cigars. 

I tut there aint no stores to buy in; there aint no 

big hotels. 
When you spend your time in dugouts doing a 

wholesale trade in shells; 
It's nice to know the proper talk for theatres 

and such, 
Rut when it comes to talking, why, it doesn't help 

you much. 

There's all them friendly kind o' things you'd 

naturally say 
When you meet a feller casual like and pass the 

time o* day. 
Them little things that breaks the ice and kind 

of clears the air, 
But when you use your French book, why, them 

things isn't there. 

I met a chap the other day a-rootin' in a trench. 

He didn't know a word of ours, nor me a word 
of French; 

And how we managed, well. I can not under- 
stand, 

Uut I never used my French hook though I had 
it in my hand. 

I winked at him to start with; he grinned from 

ear to ear; 
An' he says "Bong jour, Sammy," an' I says 

"Souvenir"; 
He took my only cigarette, I took his thin cigar, 
Which set the ball a-rollin', and so— well, there 

you are! 

I showed him next my wife and kids; he up and 

showed me his, 
Them funny little French kids with hair all in a 

frizz; 
"Annette," he says, "Louise," lie says, and his 

tears begin to fall; 
We was comrades when we parte.!, though we'd 

hardly spoke at all. 

He'd have kissed roe if I'd let him, we had 

never met before. 
And I've never seen the beggar since, for that's 

the way of war; 
And though we scarcely spoke a word, I wonder 

just the same 
If he'll ever see them kids of his — I never asked 

his name. — William J. Robinson. 



The Philippine Islands are very productive 
of begonias, and a California begonia expert 
is responsible for the statement that some 
sixty species and varieties never known to 
commerce have of late been found in our Far 
Eastern insular possessions. It is feared, 
however, that all of these need tropical tem- 
peratures and, therefore, are only subjects for 
greenhouse culture. 



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LIFE INSURANCE CO. , 

HOME OFFICE 

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SAN FRANCISCO 

BRANCH OFFICES 

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Insurance in Force 35,036,000 

Premium Receipts 1916 1,348,000 



President - - CO. G. MILLER 

CITY AGENCY 
P. M. CAROE, Mgr., Balboa Building 



HAMMOND 

LUMBER COMPANY 

260 CALIFORNIA ST. 

REDWOOD, DOUGLAS FIR 
and PILING 



General Petroleum 
Corporation 

OFFICES AT 

San Francisco Los Angeles 

Alaska Commercial Bldg. Biggins Bldg. 



WALTERS SURGICAL COMPANY 

SURGEONS' INSTRUMENTS 

Hospital and Sick Room Supplies 
Trusses and Abdominal Supporters 

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Telephone Douglas 4017 



THE CONNECTICUT 

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of HARTFORD 

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BENJAMIN J. SMITH - - - Manager 

Fred'k S. Dick, Assistant Manager 



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PAPER 




The paper used in printing the Argonaut is 
furnished by us 


CALIFORNIA'S LEADING PAPER 


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118 to 124 First Street, corner Minna, 
San Francisco 



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Will send you all newspaper clippings which 
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106-110 Seventh Avenue, New York City 
Branches — London, Paris, Berlin, Sydney. 



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SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 



THE ARGONAUT 



January 26, 1918. 



Qlaitc> 

NEW YORK: 

'48 East 57th Street 



Chinese Antiques 

SAN FRANCISCO: 

284 Post Street 



PERSONAL. 



Notes and Gossip. 
A chronicle of the social happenings dur- 
ing the past week in the cities on and around 
the Bay of San Francisco will be found in 
the following department : 

Mrs. Macondray Moore has announced the en- 
gagement of her daughter, Miss Alejandra Macon- 
dray, and Mr. Alvah Kaime of Santa Barbara. 
Miss Macondray is the sister of Mr. Frederick 
Macondray and the niece of Mrs. Perry Eyre, 
Mrs. Frank Johnson, Jr., Mrs. Robin Hayne, Mrs. 
Edward Eyre, Mr. Atherton Macondray, Mr. Ar- 
thur Macondray, and Mr. Faxon Atherton. Mr. 
Kaime is the son of Mr. George Kaime of Santa 
Barbara and a brother of Miss Laura Kaime. 
The marriage of Miss Macondray and Mr. Kaime 
will be solemnized during the summer. 

The marriage of Miss Nina Blow and Captain 
William Prideaux, U. S. N., was solemnized last 
Wednesday afternoon at the home of the bride's 
mother, Mrs. A. W. Blow, on Leavenworth Street, 
Rev. Frederick Clampett officiating. Miss Mar- 
garet Weil was the maid of honor and Paymaster 
Walter Izard was the best man. Upon their re- 
turn from their wedding trip Captain Prideaux 
and Mrs. Prideaux will reside in San Francisco. 

Mrs. George H. Mendell, Jr., was a luncheon 
hostess of last Friday at the Francisca Club, her 
guests including Mrs. Athearn Folger, Mrs. Dix- 
well Hewitt, Mrs. Richard McCreery, Mrs. Alex- 
ander Garceau, and Mrs. Henry Breeden. 

Mrs. Hewitt Davenport gave a luncheon Monday 
at the Town and Country Club in compliment to 
Mrs. Gerard Clement. The guests included Mrs. 
Danforth Boardman, Mrs. Alexander Keyes, Mrs. 
Myron Folsom, Mrs. Thomas Bishop, Mrs. Law- 
rence Harris, Mrs. Ralph King, and Miss Grace 
Buckley. 

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Chapman entertained at 
tea last Wednesday afternoon following the 
christening of their little daughter. Among their 
guests were Count del Valle de Salazar and 
Countess de Salazar, Captain Randolph Miner and 
Mrs. Miner, Mrs. Ygnacio Sepulveda, Mrs. 
Eleanor Martin, Mrs. Peter Martin, Mrs. Mary 
Longstreet, Mrs. Anson Hotaling, Mrs. Alfred 
Swinerton, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Smith, Mr. and 
Mrs. Ferdinand Tieriot, Mr. and Mrs. George 
Cameron, Mr. and Mrs. Georges de Latour, Miss 
Maud O'Connor, Miss Cornelia O'Connor, Miss 
Phyllis de Young, Archbishop Edward Hanna, Mr. 
John de la Guerra, Mr. Charles Martin, Mr. Allard 
d'Heur, and Judge J. V. Coffey. 

Mr. and Mrs. Moses Heller were hosts at dinner 
last Saturday evening, complimenting Mr. and Mrs. 
William Ehrman of Portland. 

Mr. and Mrs. Walter Starr entertained at din- 
ner at the Fairmont Hotel last Wednesday even- 
ing, their guests including Mr. and Mrs. Harry 
Miller, Mr. and Mrs. Dixwell Davenport, Mr. 
and Mrs. Joseph Hooper, and Mr. and Mrs. John 
Johnston. 

Mrs. Bernard Ransome, assisted by a number 
of Oakland matrons, has opened a Red Cross 
Superfluity Shop in Oakland. Among those who 
are interested in the success of the undertaking 
are Mrs. Edward Brayton, Mrs. Augustus Mac- 
donald, Mrs. Alexander Allen, Mrs. Frederick 
Bordwell, Mrs. Edson Adams, Mrs. Thomas Pot- 
ter, Mrs. Arthur King, Mrs. Samuel Wakefield, 
Mrs. Joseph Carlston, Mrs. Robert Fit2gerald, 
Mrs. George Percy, Mrs. Frederick Turner, Mrs. 
Walter Starr, Mrs. Wickham Havens, and Miss 
Ethel Moore. 

Mrs. Harry Williams was hostess at a tea last 
Tuesday afternoon at her home in Berkeley for 
the benefit of the French wounded. Mrs. Wil- 
liams was assisted in receiving her guests by Mrs. 



A SERENE HOUSE OF REST 

Where tired, nervous and 
sleepless people may obtain 
what they need. 

HILLCREST ORCHARD 

LOS GATOS, CAL. 



Charles Gayley, Mrs. Frank Stringham, Mrs. P. H. 
Coolidge, Mrs. Charles Bancroft, Mrs. Walter Kel- 
logg, Mrs. Howard Wright, and Mrs. Frederick 
Slate. 

Mrs. Maurice Sullivan gave a luncheon Thurs- 
day in compliment to Miss Edith Rucker. The 
guests included Mrs. Wilbur Day, Mrs. Harry 
Weihe, Mrs. Alfred Swinerton, Mrs. Franklin 
Kales, Mrs. Roy Somers, Mrs. William Roth, 
Mrs. Richard Heimann, and Miss Winifred 
Braden. 

Mr. and Mrs. Danforth Boardman entertained 
a number of friends at dinner Wednesday evening 
at the Fairmont Hotel, their guests including Mr. 
and Mrs. Alexander Field, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel 
Boardman, Mr. and Mrs. Hewitt Davenport, Mr. 
and Mrs. Germaine Vincent, Miss Mary Board- 
man, Mr. Silas Palmer, Major A. S. Fletcher, 
and Dr. Lewis Michaelson. 

Miss Elizabeth George entertained at luncheon 
recently at her home at Mare Island in honor of 
Miss Mary Gorgas. The guests included Miss Amy 
Long, Miss Marion Becker, Miss Edith Kynners- 
ley, Miss Catherine Wheeler, Miss Pauline 
Wheeler, Miss Augusta Rathbone, Miss Ruth Max- 
well, Lieutenant Harold Saunders, Lieutenant Ar- 
thur Colony, Paymaster William Marcus, Pay- 
master D. H. Dismukes, Ensign George Dillman, 
Ensign C. K. Richards, Ensign G. H. Walker, 
Ensign Charles Davenport, Dr. J. H. Hammond, 
and Dr. Frederick Kirby. 

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Breeden were hosts at 
dinner last Wednesday evening, with their guests 
later attending the musicale at the home of Mr. 
and Mrs. Henry T. Scott. Mr. and Mrs. 
Breeden's guests included Mr. and Mrs. Henry 
Poett, Mr. and Mrs. C. O. G. Miller, Mr. and 
Mrs. Ross Curran, Mr. and Mrs. William Kuhn, 
Mr. and Mrs. Henry T. Scott, Mr. and Mrs. 
Robert Hooker, and Mrs. Norris Davis. 

Mrs. Stetson Winslow gave a dinner last Satur- 
day evening at the Hotel Coronado, her guests in- 
cluding Mrs. Henry St. Goar, Miss Helen St. 
Goar, Miss Elena Eyre, Miss Marie Louise 
Winslow, Miss Elizabeth Oyster, Captain Alfred 
Ranney, Ensign Orel Goldaracena, Mr. Clinton 
Jones, Ensign George Pinckard, Mr. Sidney Peters, 
Mr. Charles St. Goar, Mr. James Harrold, and 
Mr. Edward Mumford. 

Mrs. Marie Stoney gave a tea last Wednesday, 
her guests including Mrs. Clara Huntington Per 
kins, Mrs. Dudley Cates, Mrs. Dixwell Davenport, 
Mrs. John Murphy, Mrs. Frank Cheatham, Mrs. 
John Punnett, Mrs. Franklin Harwood, Mrs. 
Charles Kaetzel, Mrs. Hugh Fairlie, Mrs. Chester 
Moore, Miss Marion Huntington, Miss Ethel Jack, 
and Miss Lilian Dean. 

Miss May Sinsheimer gave a luncheon Tuesday 
at the Woman's Athletic Club in compliment to 
Miss Ethel Jack of San Luis Obispo. 

Miss Frances Taylor entertained a number of 
friends at luncheon Monday at the Fairmont Hotel. 

Mrs. James Carolan and Miss Emily Carolan 
gave a tea Friday afternoon at their apartments 
on Powell Street. Mrs. Henry Poett, Mrs. Has- 
kett Derby, and Miss Dorothy Collier assisted Mrs. 
Carolan and Miss Carolan in receiving the guests. 

Mrs. Walter Filer entertained at luncheon Sat- 
urday at the Francisca Club in honor of Mrs. 
Hobart Cbatfield-Taylor of Chicago. 

Mrs. Ralston White gave a tea recently at the 
Francisca Club in honor of Mrs. Harold Boerickc. 
Mrs. White's guests included Mrs. Lovell Lang- 
stroth, Mrs. Oliver Wymau, Mrs. George Denip 
sey, Mrs. A. S. Baldwin, Mrs. William Boericke, 
Mrs. William Reding, Mrs. Drummond MacGavin, 
Mrs. George Willcutt, Mrs. Allen Cline, Mrs. 
Robert Henderson, Mrs. Effingham Sutton, Mrs. 
Joseph Thompson, Mrs. Alan MacDnnald, Miss 
Edith Slack, Miss Lilian Whitney, Miss Cora 
Smith, and Miss Augusta Foute. 

Mrs. Ira Pierce gave a luncheon last Thursday 
at her home on Jackson Street in compliment to 
Mrs. W. J. Van Schuyver. 



Punta Arenas was founded by the Chileans 
in 1S40. Today it has a population of about 
17,000, composed of Spanish-Americans, na- 
tives and descendants of natives of the United 
Kingdom, and of Australians, French, Ger- 
mans, and Russians. While the numerically 
dominant race is Spanish, the English-speak- 
ing inhabitants practically control its busi- 
ness interests. 



Upwards of fifty years ago Charles Dickens, 
addressing a gathering in Manchester, Eng- 
land, said: "My faith in the people who 
govern is infinitesimal ; my faith in the people 
governed is illimitable." 



Red Crown's con- 
tinuous chain of 
boiling points in- 
sures maximum 
power and mileage. , 

Standard 
Oil Company 

(California) 



POWE] 



jSfe Gasoline of Quality 




§3ot®> 



The Late Mrs. Alfred K. Durbrow. 
Died, at her home in this city, on Tuesday, 
22d inst., Mrs. Clara Pierson Durbrow, wife 
of Alfred K. Durbrow, aged 72 years. 
Born in New York City, Mrs. Durbrow came 
to California with her parents via Cape Horn 
in 1854 and lived continuously in San Fran- 
cisco thereafter. Her life was marked 
throughout by a genuine womanliness, mind- 
ful first of domestic duties, but never unmind- 
ful of responsibilities outside and apart from 
her home. For many years, as president of 
the Buford Kindergarten Association, she 
gave intelligent direction to one of the oldest 
and best of our public charities. At all times 
and in all ways Mrs. Durbrow gave to the 
obligations of life a full measure of womanly 
devotion. No duty or opportunity of service 
was ever slighted. It is pleasant to know 
that that which Mrs. Durbrow so generously 
gave to others was returned to her in the re- 
wards due to high character and to affec- 
tionate consideration. Six sons and daugh- 
ters, grown to maturity and independence, in 
sorrow call her blessed; and a multitude of 
relatives and friends bear grieving witness to 
her worthiness and nobility. A. H. 



Death of William Babcock. 
Died, at Coronado, Wednesday, 23d inst., 
William Babcock of San Francisco and San 
Rafael. 



The Fruit and Flower Mission. 

The annual meeting of the members of the 
San Francisco Fruit and Flower Mission was 
held on Wednesday, January 9th, at 1372 
Jackson Street. It was reported that the do- 
nations received by the Mission in 1917 were 
even more generous than in the past, in spite 
of the war. This is especially gratifying to 
the members, both as showing the continued 
interest of the public in their work, and be- 
cause it helps to defray the constantly in- 
creasing expenses of the Mission, due both 
to the enlarged scope of its work and to the 
increased cost of all foodstuffs. The follow- 
ing directors were elected for 1918 : Hon- 
orary president, Mrs. Mary Bates McLellan ; 
president, Miss Elsie Hess ; first vice-presi- 
dent, Miss Helen Gibbs ; second vice-president, 
Miss Bell Armer; treasurer, Mrs. L. Strass- 
burger ; recording secretary, Miss Miriam 
Wallis ; corresponding secretary, Mrs. W. B. 
Lowenthal ; Mrs. F. Mandelbaum, Miss Vir- 
ginia Gibbs, Miss Hannah Leszynsky, Mrs. 
Sol. Stock, Miss S. E. Johnson. 

-*♦* 

Cora L.Williams Institute. 

An informal reception will be given at the 
John H. Spring mansion, Thousand Oaks, 
Berkeley, on Sunday, the 27th instant, the 
property having been recently bought by Miss 
Cora L. Williams, principal of the A-to-Zed 
School, Berkeley, for her new educational en- 
terprise, the Cora L. Williams Institute for 
Creative Education. The world of advanced 
thinkers was recently interested by a treatise 
from the pen of Miss Williams, entitled "Crea- 
tive Evolution," in which she showed that the 
evolution of the individual is being merged 
into a social involution. Her new institute, 
based on that idea, will work for the building 
of what she calls the Great Community, yet 
the children students will be given the regu- 
lar school courses, vitalized by special care 
to tap the hidden energy in the minds and 
souls of children. Parallel with that guid- 
ance will be classes for the instruction of 
mothers and teachers. 



Army and Navy. 
The Reading Matter Committee for Army 
and Navy, San Francisco Chapter, American 
National Red Cross, is greatly in need of 
books for ships, hospitals, and cantonments. 
Therefore books, magazines, and weeklies will 
be gratefully received at 942 Market Street, 
room 512, Red Cross headquarters. 



Steamboat Creek, in Oregon, does not get 
its name in the manner one would expect. 
There never has been a steamboat anywhere 
near this little mountain stream. In the early 
days gold was discovered along this creek 
and there was a stampede to stake out claims. 
While gold has been mined there ever since, 
the early prospectors were disappointed. The 
country did not come up to the advance no- 
tices and in mining parlance that is called 
being "steamboated." The creek has ever 
since been called Steamboat. 



He — In these times men will not submit to 
live under an autocratic rule. She — Good 
heavens! Henry, you are not thinking of dis- 
charging the cook? — Baltimore American. 



"BURUNGAME HILLS" 

Let us build you a REAL HOME on the sunny, 
wooded slopes of Burlingame Hills, on a large 
Villa Site, near Hillsborough, commanding a 
beautiful view and excellent climate. 

PANAMA REALTY CO. - 68 Post St. 

H. B. CLIFTON. Sales Manager 
Phone Sutter 4610 



Hotel Oakland 

OAKLAND, CAL. 

Among the finest Hotels in 
the State, Where Welcome 
and Service Await All. 

American and European Plan 

W. C. JURGENS, Gen'l Manager 



H 



crte] 

fcsAnjeles 




An absolutely 



j fire-proof 



hotel of 
distinctively 
high standards. 

Logical 
headquarters for 

San Franciscans. 

VERNON GOODWIN 

Vice-Pre*. and Managing Director 



HOTEL SHATTUCK 

BERKELEY'S FINEST 
FAMILY HOTEL 



300 beautifully furnished guest 
rooms, fireproof building, and 
one of the most homelike and 
attractive hotels in the West. 
Offers superior accommodations 
at reasonable rates — high enough 
to insure best service and cui- 
sine. 

Thirty-five minuteB from San Francisco. 

EVERY RECREATION-DANCING, 
TENNIS, ETC. 

Under Management of 
W. W. WMTECOTTON 



J. H. VAN HORNE 



Hotel Del Coronado 

(American Plan) 

CORONADO BEACH 
CALIFORNIA 

Completely equipped with AUTOMATIC SPRINKLER SYSTEM 

SPLENDID 18-HOLE GOLF COURSE 

Motoring, Tennis, Bay and Surf Bathing, 

Fishing and Boating 

Near Camp Kearny, San Diego 

JOHN J. HERNAN, Manager 



W. B. HA YW ARD — CATERER 

Successor to 

Wheeler & Hay ward 

Most Complete Catering Establishment 

in San Francisco 

Equipment for 2000 people. Chairs, tables, 
linens, china and silverware, rented for ban- 
quets, weddings, lunches, dinners, receptions. 
Punches, fancy ice-cream, frozen dainties, 
lemonades, and sandwiches a specialty. 
Tel. Franklin 1089 : 1157 SUTTER STREET 



HOTEL 

WHITCOMB 

AT CIVIC CENTER 

Tea is served every afternoon, 

and there is dancing every 

Saturday night in the 

SUN ROOM 



Manager 




January 26, 191S. 



THE ARGONAUT 



63 



F. N. DOWLING 

FURNITURE 

AND 

DECORATION 



26 East 57th Street 
LONDON NEW YORK PARIS 

Formerly of 473 Fifth Ave. 



EXCLUSIVE FURNITURE OF 
FRENCH AND ENGLISH 
PERIODS, SILKS, TAPES- 
TRIES, BROCADES, OLD 
ENGLISH LINENS, ETC. 



PERSONAL. 

Movements and Whereabouts. 
Annexed will be found a resume of move- 
ments to and from this city and Coast and 
the whereabouts of absent Californians : 

Captain Benjamin Foster arrived in San Fran- 
cisco a few days ago from Oklahoma and is visiting 
his sister, Mrs. Leonard Abbott. 

Miss Mary Phelan and her niece, Miss Gladys 
Sullivan, left Monday for Washington to join 
Senator James D. Phelan, after having passed the 
winter in San Francisco. 

Miss Esther Bull has returned to San Francisco, 
after a visit of several weeks in Portland. 

Mr. Frederick Tillmann, Jr., has taken apart- 
ments in Washington, where he will reside in- 
definitely. 

Mrs. Alfred Oyster has arrived from San Diego 
and is the guest of her mother, Mrs. William 
Perkins. 

Mr. and Mrs. Silas Palmer have gone to the 
southern part of the state for a visit of several 
weeks. 

Mr. Louis SIoss, Jr., left Monday for the East, 
having received orders that will take him to France 
in the course of a few weeks. 

Mr. George Kaime, with his daughter and son, 
Miss Laura Kaime and Mr. Alvah Kaime, has 
been spending several days at the Fairmont Hotel 
from his home in Santa Barbara. 

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Stetson Wheeler and their 
daughter, Miss Jean Wheeler, have gone to San 
Diego for a visit of several weeks. 

Mr. and Mrs. Mark Requa, who have gone to 
Washington to reside, have taken the house of 
Mrs. Christine Hennick in Sheridan Circle. 

Miss Gretchen von Phul passed the week-end in 
Berkeley, where she was the house guest of Miss 
Janet Knox. 

Mr. and Mrs. Frank Fuller have gone East for 
a visit of several weeks' duration. 

Miss Elva De Pue, who has been staying at 
her father's ranch in Yolo County since her return 
from the East, is passing a few days at her home 
on Sacramento Street. 

Miss Emily Clayton has been visiting in San 
Francisco from her home in San Diego, and is the 
guest of the Misses Marcia and Elizabeth Fee at 
their home on Buchanan Street. 

Miss Elena Eyre returned to San Francisco last 
week, after a visit of several days in San Diego 
with Mrs. Henry St. Goar and Miss Helen St. 
Goar. 

Major Archibald Johnson returned Monday to 
Camp Kearny, after a brief visit in San Fran- 
cisco. 

Mrs. Tennant Harrington and her daughter, Miss 
Marie Louise Harrington, left Tuesday for New 
York, where the marriage of Miss Harrington and 
Lieutenant-Commander David Bagley will be 
solemnized. 

Mr. and Mrs. Walter Filer have returned to 
their apartments at Stanford Court, after an ab- 
sence of several months in the East. 

Major Henry Dutton is spending a few days on 
furlough at his home in Burlingame. 

Mrs. Louis Monteagle returned Sunday evening 
to her home on Pacific Avenue, after an extended 
sojourn in Eastern cities. 

Mr. and Mrs. Philip T. Clay are in New York, 
after having spent several weeks in Arizona with 
their son. 

Mr. and Mrs. William Ehrman arrived several 
days ago from their home in Portland and have 
been visiting Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Ehrman at the 
Hotel St. Francis. 

Dr. George Lyman and Mrs. Lyman have leased 
the home of Mrs. John Tallant on Green Street, 
where they will reside during the spring and 
summer months. 

Mrs. Hobart Chatfield-Taylor, who has been the 
guest of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Filer since her 
arrival from Chicago, will leave in a few days 
for Santa Barbara, where she will pass the re- 
mainder of the winter. 

Mrs. Mark Gerstle is passing several days in 
Los Angeles with Mr. and Mrs. Mark Gerstle, Jr. 

Mr. and Mrs. George Mitchell arrived a few 
days ago from the Orient, and will spend a few 
days in San Francisco before returning to their 
home in Washington. 

Mrs. William Fullam and Miss Rhoda Fullam, 
who have been spending the winter in Washing- 
ton, have arrived in Southern California. Mrs. 
Austin Sands accompanied her mother and sister 
to California. 

Mr. and Mrs. Francis McComas passed several 
days of last week at the Hotel St, Francis from 
their home in Monterey. 

Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Folger have gone East for 
a visit of several weeks. 

Miss Elizabeth Adams is the guest of Mr. and 



Mrs. Mark Requa at their home in Washington. 
During her sojourn in New York Miss Adams 
was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Pennoyer. 

Mrs. Archibald Kains left San Francisco last 
week for Washington, where with Mr. Kains she 
will reside indefinitely. 

Mrs. Benno Hart and her daughter, Miss Con- 
stance Hart, have returned to their home on Jack- 
son Street, after a sojourn of several weeks in 
the East. 

Miss Elizabeth Zane has arrived in Washing- 
ton, where she is the guest of her brother, Major 
Edmund Zane. 

Mr. Charles Mills, who is in Aviation Corps of 
the army, has gone to Ohio, where he will be 
joined in the neap future by Mrs. Mills and their 
little son, Master Billy Mills. 

Mrs. Laurance Scott has closed her home in 
Burlingame and has joined Captain Scott at Coro- 
nado. 

Mrs. E. M. Heller is spending the winter in 
Coronado so as to be near her son, Lieutenant 
Leonard Heller. 

Mr. and Mrs. George A. Pope, Miss Emily 
Pope, and Mr. Kenneth Pope have arrived in San 
Francisco, after a visit of several weeks in New 
York and Boston. 

Miss Margaret Trimble returned last week to 
her home in Montecito, after a visit in San Fran- 
cisco with Miss Alejandro Macondray. 

Mrs. Albert Baruch is spending several weeks 
at Coronado from her home in San Francisco. 

Among recent arrivals at the Hotel Oakland 
are Mr. Charles R. Appleton and family, Dr. A. 
L. del Costello and Mrs. Costello, San Francisco; 
Mr. and Mrs. E. C. Cable, Portland ; Mr. and 
Mrs. F. M. Douglass, Hollywood; Mr. and Mrs. 
Charles Link, Los Angeles; Mr. Paul Garrett and 
family, Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Smith, New York; 
Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Howard, Mr. and Mrs. H. 
Anderson, Sacramento; Miss N. Morgan and Miss 
M. C. Pankhurst, New York; Dr. Langley Porter 
and Mrs. Porter, San Francisco. 

Mr. W. P. Callahan, president of the Callahan- 
Whiteside Motors Company of Louisville, Ken- 
tucky, is registered at the Whitcomb, with Mrs. 
Callahan. Other arrivals include Mr. N. R. 
Cooper, Fresno ; Mr. M. S. Jones, Cincinnati ; 
Mr. James J. Reed, San Jose. 

Last Friday night was the last of a series of 
Third Friday Night Dances given by Dr. Kaspar 
Pischel and Mrs. Pischel for the enlisted men, as 
Mrs. Pischel has left for the East to be with 
her daughter, Mrs. Harold A. Fletcher, in Balti- 



A New Tenor In March. 
Manager Selby C. Oppenheimer will pre- 
sent a new and great tenor to local music 
lovers in early March. Theodore Karle has 
enjoyed a wonderful popularity throughout 
the East, and while the noted singer is a 
Californian by birth he has never yet appeared 
in this city. Karle is over six foot two in 
height, and contrary to the accepted theory 
of tenor singers, combines a great manliness 
of presence with a flowing golden voice. • He 
is recognized throughout the East and in Eu- 
rope as one of the coming great singers of 
the world, and it is assured that his delightful 
art will more than please San Franciscans. 



The prosperity of Greater Tokyo City is 
shown by the increased taxes over last year ; 
t. We shall fight on and on and on — let no 
man doubt it. 

In every great conflict long sustained there comes a 
dark hour, a time which disheartens the weak and re- 
inspires the strong. We are now in this dark hour. 
There are timid ones who fear and shrink. On the 
other hand there is a growing comprehension of the 
necessity to put into the struggle if it shall be neces- 



sary the last man and the last dollar. Our resolution 
will not fail. We shall win this war whether it takes 
one year or forty. We may have to fight on indefinitely, 
but Prussianism shall not rule the world. 



The Issue at Washington. 

In its broader significance the ruction between Presi- 
dent Wilson and Senator Chamberlain defines an issue 
between pacifism carried into the conduct of the war 
and a real military policy. Fundamentally Mr. Wilson 
and Secretary of War Baker are pacifists. Before we 
got into the war they" opposed military preparedness. 
They resisted the establishment of what military au- 
thorities defined as a military policy for the United 
States on the ground that steps in that direction would 
constitute "unneutrality." Since we entered the war 
they have resisted just as vigorously the establishment 
of a military policy (implying obligatory training) on 
the ground that since the end of the war probably will 
bring international disarmament we, if we should com- 
mit ourselves to such a policy, would be in no position 
to urge disarmament at the peace table. They regard 
our traditional lack of preparedness as an asset for use 
in the work of making over the world after the war. 
Secretary Baker in his last annual report, a report in 
which was reflected the Administration point of view, 
definitely urged these considerations. 

Thus we have in the conduct of the war a distinct 
reflection of the mind and purpose of men whose 
thoughts are not of war, but of peace. Manifestly men 
holding these views, and thus out of sympathy with 
the military man's view, can not reconcile themselves 
to courses beyond the imperative needs of the moment. 
Hoping for peace, they have failed to prepare for a 
long war. We have called 1,400,000 men to arms and 
are doing nothing to get or train more. Of the 10,000,- 
000 men authorized in the draft legislation we have 
called a maximum of 687,000. If we call the remainder 
we have less than a total of 2,000,000. Yet military- 
men speak in terms of 3,000,000 to 7,000,000 as neces- 
sary. It is the old story. In 1861 we called three 
months' men and prolonged the war unnecessarily. 
We are today doing what is tantamount to the same 
thing. Canada, with a total population only about half 
that of the State of New York, has more men in Eu- 
rope than we have. 

In the Chamberlain incident President Wilson, who 
for all the developments of the period has not lost his 
pacifist ideas, has come into the open as champion of 
laissea fairc, while Senator Chamberlain is out for 
greater efficiency in our war activities. He would put 
into the fight the military spirit — the spirit of fight. 
He would have the country thrust aside other considera- 
tions — all futurities, all side issues — spit on its hands 
and have at it. 

The controversy between the two as thus far de- 
veloped is not edifying. When Mr. Wilson declared 
that "Senator Chamberlain's statement as to the pres- 
ent inaction and ineffectiveness of the government 
is an astonishing and absolutely unjustifiable distor- 
tion of the truth" he lost his poise and forgot his man- 
ners. Likewise he betrayed the fact that Senator 
Chamberlain had gotten under his hide. And after the 
fashion of angry men he weakened his case. Exhi- 
bitions of irritation and bad temper invariably recoil 
upon the cause in whose behalf they are put forth. In 
his reply on the floor of the Senate Mr. Chamberlain 
discreetly resisted the temptation to give the Presi- 
dent a dose of his own medicine. Yet it can not 
be said that his answer was complete. He slopped 
about after a hit-or-miss fashion, and though he wasted 
most of his blows, succeeded in making some of them 
count. But on the whole his answer was m 
in its appeal to public sentiment than wa; 



66 



THE ARGONAUT 



February 2, 1918. 



dent's angry denunciation. With his typical luck, 
Colonel Roosevelt arrived on the scene at just the right 
moment to assume the real leadership of the Chamber- 
lain side of the controversy and to lift the whole busi- 
ness into a national issue. 



The President, we believe, has sufficient power to de- 
feat the immediate Chamberlain proposal for war re- 
form. But the actual battle is yet to come — it will be 
fought out before the American people, with President 
Wilson on one side and ex-President Roosevelt on the 
other. The munitions director bill and the war cabinet 
bill, if they shall come to a vote soon, will surely fail 
in Congress. Mr. Wilson will be able to see to that. 
But evidences multiply that the popular verdict will 
condemn the laisses faire method of conducting the 
war and ultimately if not immediately support proposals 
for more energy, more force, more efficiency. Already 
the Chamberlain incident, taken in conjunction with 
the Garfield order, has weakened public confidence in 
the Administration. Industrial America believes that 
the sudden and drastic fuel order was unneces- 
sary and that, considered in connection with training 
camp conditions and other things, it reflects a dis- 
tinct lack of practical capability in the government. An 
indication to this effect is afforded in the comment 
of the New York Times, a journal distinctly friendly 
to the Administration, brought forth in connection with 
the pending controversy. Quoting Senator Chamber- 
lain's remark that "the military establishment of the 
United States has fallen down * * * because of in- 
efficiency in ever)' bureau, in every department of the 
government," the Times adds: 

This is alarming testimony, and it is authoritative. There 
is corroboration from many sources. Coal shortage is but one 
item, and a minor one, of the general collapse. Curtailment 
of industry fs but a local application, it will not cure grave 
constitutional ills. The cause of the breakdown is plain. 
President Wilson has chosen for the performance of these 
great tasks inferior and incompetent men who must trust far 
too much to his constant direction and guidance. They are 
helpless without him, and as he can not master all the enor- 
mous detail of the administrative business, failure and collapse 
are inevitable. 

There is but one remedy; it is in the President's hands. 
If we are not to fail miserably in the great war work we 
have undertaken he must replace . the incompetents by men 
equal to their tasks, able to bear and willing to assume re- 
sponsibility, leaving the President free for his higher duties. 
We can not win the war with a staff of clerks all the time 
running to their chief for instructions. The President needs 
big men about him. 

When_Mr. Wilson's foremost journalistic friend and 
promoter thus speaks of the administrative organiza- 
tion there can be no doubt of the ultimate popular 
verdict. It will be that there is incompetence and in- 
efficiency at the centre of things. A public which 
demands victory, which will be content with nothing 
short of victory, will not support a scheme of adminis- 
tration which works out in delays, in wastes, in multi- 
tudinous delinquencies. In other words, the public de- 
mand is for war conducted in the spirit of war, not in 
the spirit of pacifism. Sentiment will be precisely what 
it was sixty or more years ago in the issue between 
President Lincoln and the pacifist General McClellan. 

We can not make war effectively with pacifists in 
charge of the war machinery. The ideal Secretary of 
War would be a man in accord with the military 
point of view, one who in addition to administrative 
ability would have a liking for, a sympathy with, 
and an understanding of fighting men. There are 
many such in and out of the military service ; and 
none other is fit for the job. It should not be under- 
stood that the peace obsessions of the President and his 
immediate assistants are deliberately crippling our 
efforts at war. They have sought to do as best they 
could in an unpleasant and a repugnant task. Then 
there is lack of control of the various war-making arms 
of the government. We are not getting team work. 
The President thinks that he is driving the team be- 
cause he holds the reins. He isn't. He has recognized 
in the war cabinet bill an intimation that the team is 
pulling in different directions and that it lacks a guiding 
and masterful hand. His vanity has been wounded. 
Hence lis vicious lashing-out at Chamberlain. 

For several days before the President took his stand 

in cop )sition to the legislation proposed by the Senate 

r.'ttee — for a war cabinet and for a director of 

i' is — it was believed that he would bow to the 

•itable. Even one so close to him as his official 



secretary, Mr. Tumulty, thought so, evidenced by the 
fact that those newspaper correspondents who speak 
the voice of Tumulty took this view of the situation. 
But it has become evident that the secretary in thus 
inspiring his journalistic friends was giving his own 
political judgment and opinion rather than the judg- 
ment and opinion of his chief. 



Among the respectable journalistic supporters of the 
President only the New York World follows his lead 
in the new posture of affairs. A more conservative 
supporter — the New York Times, above quoted — has 
committed itself to the Chamberlain bill. It reproves 
Mr. Wilson in tempered terms for his attack on Mr. 
Chamberlain, accepts as truth Chamberlain's strictures 
upon the misconduct of the war, and warns the Presi- 
dent to go slow lest he destroy popular confidence in 
himself. The leading Washington newspapers, always 
cautious and always more or less supporting the Ad- 
ministration, have been slow to commit themselves. 
Yet in the Post of 22d inst. we find significant expres- 
sions : 

Only a few weeks ago Senator Chamberlain was the Ad- 
ministration's friend and champion in Congress, loved and 
trusted for his loyal support, relied upon not only for his 
ability as a statesman, but for the diplomatic capacity which 
enabled him to smooth down opposition and convert opponents 
into noncombatants, if not into friends. And now he is 
branded as a "distorter of the truth." What is it that changes 
a man from a patriot into a "distorter of the truth" over- 
night? What evil genius can work this devilish metamor- 
phosis in such a short period ? The miracle has never been 
explained. 

******** 

The people of the United Stales are exactly like the people 
of other nations at war. They will not tolerate anything 
except victory. They are giving their blood and their sub- 
stance solely for success, for the triumphant survival of the 
United States over its enemies. All men, from the President's 
advisers down to the rookie, are on trial. So long as they 
make good they are approved and will be supported by the 
people. When they fail to make good they will go .down, 
and no influence can save them. It is admirable in the Presi- 
dent to stick by his friends in office, but this loyalty to them 
can not make them succeed when they have lost the con- 
fidence of the people of the United States. 



The theory that partisan politics is back of the criti- 
cism now being leveled at the Administration is not 
convincing. With Senator Stone to the fore as its 
chief exponent that theory is discredited from the start. 
Yet in fairness it should be said that the Administration 
had no part as a promoter of that amazing performance. 
None the less Stone's speech tends by its reactions to 
the disadvantage of the Administration. Nothing could 
have more definitely embarrassed it by exposing facts 
hitherto masked, by inviting further criticism, by caus- 
ing Republicans in Congress hitherto silent from 
patriotic motives to teli what they know of inefficiency, 
maladministration, blundering, and waste. Senator 
Stone has been the means of putting before the country 
unpleasant facts. But for this furious outburst the lid 
might not have come off for weeks ahead. Now it has 
become evident that we are going through an experi- 
ence comparable if not identical with that of England 
in the early period of the war. England had North- 
cliffe. We have Roosevelt. 



1916 he made every unit of supplies and accounts go 
through the motions of supplying a suddenly expanded 
navy going into war. He went so far in this game as 
to make wholesalers and manufacturers play, too, re- 
quiring them to submit statistics of available supplies 
and to figure time and price for further supplies. 
Everything was done save actually to order the goods 
and call for delivery. So "Sammy" was ready when 
the war came. 

Admiral McGowan's performance last summer in a 
single item, that of tin, is worthy of record as an illus- 
tration. Very early his market sheets — a thorough sys- 
tem of daily charts — told him that tin was getting 
scarce and that prices were going up. Tin is essen- 
tial in time of war, but only McGowan seemed inter- 
ested. Working quietly he found a lot of tin, some of 
it tin that had been ordered before the war for foreign 
account. He bought up and commandeered — under 
legal authority — all there was in sight, none too much, 
at standard navy prices, which were fair, but did not 
take account of the war advance. Weeks later the 
War Department, and the Council of National Defense 
for the War Department, discovered that the army 
needed tin and that the market was bare. The War 
Department was perturbed. Its investigations showed 
that the navy had grabbed all the tin. Then they went 
to McGowan. "Sure," he said in effect. "I've got the 
tin; somebody in the government had to get it, but it 
isn't my tin; it belongs to Uncle Sam — it's yours just as 
much as it's mine. Take what you need." 

The War Department and the Council of Defense 
have been trying to get the navy into a scheme for 
pooling all purchases. McGowen resists. He thinks 
he can buy better than a council of war or the War 
Department; he knows his system works well and he de- 
clines to go into any untried scheme. He has proved 
himself efficient while the others have not. Of course 
in theory the plan of pool purchasing is sounder than 
that of department purchasing. All purchasing agen- 
cies ought to be consolidated, but there is some justi- 
fication for McGowan's holding out. 

Incidentally it is worth saying in California that Mc- 
Gowan's chief assistant, who has done almost as much 
as his chief in getting the navy into shape, is a young 
Californian, Christian J. Peoples by name, who has just 
been advanced through McGowan's suggestion, to the 
rank of rear-admiral — a deserved promotion. 



All's 'Well with the Navy — and Why. 

It is a satisfaction to record that while pretty much 
everything is amiss with the army, with the shipping 
plans, and in many other departments of our war 
service, all is fairly well with the navy. Secretary 
Daniels, while not the active force in the work of the 
organization, has had the judgment to keep hands off 
and to allow expert and capable subordinates to do the 
job. Then, too, the problems were different and less 
intricate. While the War Department has been called 
upon to take in, clothe and equip more than a million 
men, the navy personnel of 54,000 in time of peace has 
only been increased by something less than 200,000. 
Young Franklin Roosevelt has been an active force in 
this work, but the particularly effective man is Rear- 
Admiral Samuel McGowan, paymaster-general and 
chief of the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts. Many 
months before the war— for us — Admiral McGowan 
had charted possible needs, learned where supplies were 
to be got, prepared to get them; had formulated a sys- 
tem for keeping in touch with the market for all 
requisites and had been training his force in prepara- 
tion for expansion. In the summer manoeuvres of 1915- 



Editorial Notes. 

The appointment by Secretary Baker of Mr. Stettinus 
as director of purchases for the War Department is an 
attempt to quiet the demand for a director of muni- 
tions. It is a good appointment in a sense that Mr. 
Stettinus is a man of ability and of special experience 
in the particular work assigned him. None the less 
this move on the part of the War Department will not 
quiet the demand for efficiency at the head of the de- 
partment. There is little use in bringing capable men 
into service if they must be required to work under 
incompetence and inexperience. As long as the War 
Department is under the direction of a mind essentially 
subject to the obsessions and delusions of pacifism there 
can be no real efficiency in the war, no matter who may 
be brought into the department in a subordinate capacity. 
We have now at the head of the War Department, not 
an enthusiast for the war, but a man whose ideas, 
standards, and sympathies are those of peace. The 
making of war calls for a fighter, not for a pacifist, and 
we shall be laggard in war so long as this condition 
obtains. 

From Professor E. A. Ross, "eminent sociologist," we 
have the edifying statement, following a visit to Russia, 
that he had received from the Bolsheviki government 
replies to certain inquiries "as I would have answered 
if I were in the position of Minister of Foreign 
Affairs Trotzky." Precisely so ! "Professor Ross, being 
himself something oi a Bolshevik, would of course have 
answered as a Bolshevik. We know something of Pro- 
fessor Ross in California, whence he departed some 
fifteen years ago by request of the administration of 
Stanford University. Ross is a chronic egoist, a 
chronic agitator, a chronic disturber. When he went to 
Russia some months ago everybody who knew the man 
knew precisely what he would find there. 



Loyalty to friendship is an admirable and commend- 
able quality in matters properly associated with friend- 



February 2, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



67 



ship. But no man, however highly commissioned in 
respect of public obligations, has a right to subordinate 
these obligations to considerations of personal friend- 
ship. The war is too big a thing to be complicated or 
embarrased by any personal consideration whatsoever. 
There come times — and this is one of the times — when 
loyalty to friendship when it involves retention of mani- 
festly unfit men in public office is disloyalty to responsi- 
bility and duty. 

At a meeting held in San Francisco on Monday of 
this week, representatives of 40,000 Japanese workmen 
being present, there was set an example which might 
well be imitated by representatives of American indus- 
trialism. There was less talk about rights than about 
obligations with which rights are obviously involved. 
The programme included study of methods of increas- 
ing farm labor supply and the increase of farm labor 
efficiency. Incidentally there was set on foot a move- 
ment to eliminate gambling among the workers, de- 
clared to be a fruitful source of inefficiency. We can 
easily conceive what it would mean for this country 
and what it would mean for the efficiency, the dignity, 
and the moral advantage of American labor if our in- 
dustrial organizations, including our labor unions, would 
study their opportunities and duties and undertake 
elimination of vices instead of organizing aggressive 
assaults upon associated interests. Some years ago Mr. 
Roosevelt stirred the wrath of a large section of the 
country by asserting that we had much to learn from 
the Japanese. Perhaps, after all, he was right. 



The Argonaut is in entire accord with the funda- 
mental proposition of Mr. Keeler as set forth in an- 
other column, namely, that "every ounce of the energy 
of the people of the United States must be directed to 
the winning of the war." We can not, however, accept 
as corollary to this purpose Mr. Keeler's theory that it 
is necessary to vastly endow the organization known as 
the Boy Scouts of America. Boy scouting is no doubt 
in its way a good thing, but it is essentially play — just 
play. That we shall promote the war by a national 
"drive" in aid of the Boy Scouts is, we think, at least 
questionable. The first and essential purpose of the 
country should be to win the war. Nothing that does 
not contribute directly and positively to this end — save 
and excepting of course our common obligations -to 
charity — is worth a moment's attention at this time. 
Frankly, the Argonaut would let the Boy Scouts wait 
for peace, along with the restoration of French cities 
and other worthy though non-essential projects. This 
is perhaps a good time to say that too many are taking 
the war as a kind of social diversion rather than as a 
grim business. There are too many "drives" for social, 
decorative, and incidental purposes. They tend to di- 
vert energy and money from the main issue; likewise 
they tend to make the business of preparation a lark 
rather than a stern discipline in duty and hardihood. 
We shall not get down to business in the war in an 
effective way until we cease wasting energy and money 
in diversions inspired by sentimentalism and developed 
into a fad. 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



and on the Atlantic coast of America. During the last Liberty 
Loan campaign they sold over one hundred million dollars' 
worth of bonds. They are working on the sale of War Savings 
Stamps, and President Wilson has personally requested the 
Boy Scouts to aid the campaign for educating the people on 
the issues of the war. 

In response to this request the Boy Scouts during the past 
week have left copies of the President's Flag Day address in 
nearly every household in the cities of America. 

General Pershing cabled on December 3d from somewhere 
in France to W. S. Cowing, Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts 
of America, as follows : "The Boy Scouts movement has my 
unqualified approval. Honest and faithful service in the Boy 
Scouts develops those manly qualities that fit our boys for 
the more serious duties of citizens and soldiers." 

Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, in addressing a troop of Boy 
Scouts, said: "I believe in this movement with all my heart. 
The democracy of our government must be based funda- 
mentally on the kind of spirit you show — the service that you 
so willingly give. No man is entitled to a privilege if he 
does not perform a duty. You can't, any of you, enjoy the 
privileges of a Boy Scout if you stay out and don't do any of 
the work." 

The Boy Scouts' organization of San Francisco will com- 
mence next Tuesday a three days' campaign to raise fifty 
thousand dollars for the needs of their work during the next 
three years. They have increased in the past year from one 
hundred and ninety to seventeen hundred members, and the 
present force of executives is unable to handle the work. 

Charles M. Keeler. 



THE THEATRE OF WAR. 

The speech of the German chancellor and the conditions 
under which it was delivered are indicative to some extent of 
the mental chaos now prevailing throughout the German Em- 
pire. The speech had been announced for three previous 
occasions, and its delivery had been three times postponed. 
At last it comes without any warning at all, or at least with- 
out any warning that reached the outside world. We are 
still without a verbatim report and therefore without the 
means to judge its general contour, but it seems to have 
been free from the hectorings with which Von Bethmaun- 
Hollweg was wont to embellish his discourses, and from those 
expressions of the true Prussian spirit that can neither under- 
stand the minds of other peoples nor be understood by them. 
Von Hertling addressed himself seriatim to the clauses of 
the President's peace speech, and however vague and unsatis- 
factory his references may have been, at least we may recog- 
nize a definite departure from the reticences that have hitherto 
veiled the intentions or hopes of the German government. 



say that a year ago, indeed three years ago? Would he say 
it now if Germany were suddenly to win a great victory on 
the western front? Of course he would not. Eut Scheide- 
mann is only expressing a national mental incapacity if he 
supposes, as he evidently does, that the restoration of Belgium, 
by itself, would have the least effect upon the war aims of 
England or of the Entente in general, or that the attention of 
the Allies could thus be diverted from Mittel Europa, from 
the Balkans, and from Serbia. Any peace discussion con- 
ducted by Germany on the basis of a conviction that America, 
for example, does not actually mean what she says she means 
in the fourteen clauses of her programme is doomed to 
failure. It would be far more hopeful if the chancellor were 
to assume that America means exactly what those clauses 
express, and were then to proceed to deny as many of them 
as she thought proper. Here at least would be a basis of 
common comprehension. But to pigeon-hole those proposals 
one after the other as suited to discussion only between the 
nations directly involved is no more than an expression of 
incredulity that America actually intends to champion any 
other cause than that of her own pocket, and that her solemn 
resolve to secure justice for Serbia, Roumania, and the peoples 
of Asia Minor is anything more than a politic hypocrisy. Ger- 
many, or at least the militarists of Germany, have evidently 
yet to learn the alphabet of the Allied war language as set 
forth in general terms in the speeches of President Wilson 
and Lloyd-George. That alphabet is mutual loyalty among 
the Allies, and a mutual resolve to sustain one another even 
where no immediate or material self-interest is in sight. It is 
an idea that does not easily penetrate the German mind, but 
none the less it belongs to the essential preliminaries. 



The Boy Scouts. 

San Francisco, January 29, 1918. 

To the Editor — Sir: Every ounce of energy of the people 
of the United States must today be directed to the winning 
of the war. That means organization, supplies, food, and 
soldiers. But if every activity in the country except these spe- 
cific war services should simultaneously cease we would lose 
the war. The country would collapse through internal in- 
efficiency, as Russia has so dramatically shown. There are 
many social and economic activities which are "by-products of 
war work, and as such are vitally essential to the final out- 
come. 

Among these one of the first is the efficient training of our 
boys to public service. Not only in the actual results in 
definite war service, but in guaranteeing the efficiency of our 
future manhood, is this work essential today. 

Mr. H. D. Cross, national field scout commissioner of the 
Boy Scouts of America on the Pacific Coast, has recently 
made a tour of the entire Coast cities, and he finds that the 
problem of increased juvenile delinquency is already causing 
the school and court authorities great concern. He has re- 
ceived statements that juvenile delinquency has increased dur- 
ing the past eight months from 25 to 60 per cent. In Eng- 
land, Germany, and France the increase in juvenile delin- 
quency during the period of the war has occasioned general 
alarm. 

The Boy Scouts of America, enrolling as it does three hun- 
dred thousand boys, strikes at the roots of juvenile delin- 
quency. The Scout oath and law, the influence of the Scout 
Masters, and of the boys upon one another is ceaselessly ope- 
rating to make the boys vigilant and prepared to serve their 
families, the public, and the state. They are trained physically 
and fiiven practical experience in camp life. They learn first 
aid, signaling, woodcraft, and many other things necessary 
for the soldier. They are doing Coast guard duty in England 



The delays in the delivery of the speech are undoubtedly a 
reflection of the oscillations of the pendulum of German public 
opinion, or at least of that part of German public opinion that 
can make itself felt. Von Hertling delayed the delivery of 
his speech because he had not received his final instructions, 
or because it was not certain that his instructions were 
actually the final ones, and that the struggle against the Pan- 
Germans had been decided, at least momentarily, in their 
favor. The evidences of that struggle are unmistakable. It 
is equally unmistakable that the struggle was a close one. 
Scheidemann, the leader of the loyal Socialists, had warmly 
applauded and promoted the peace negotiations with Russia. 
He believed that Germany would conduct them with sincerity, 
and he saw in a basis of no annexations and no indemnities 
the prelude to a general agreement. When the trick played 
upon the Bolsheviki became apparent he was as disgusted as 
were the Bolsheviki themselves, and he said so. He de- 
nounced the German representatives for going to Brest- 
Litovsk with renunciation on their lips and territorial theft 
in their hearts. At once he ceased to be loyalist and became 
once more a Socialist, and he must then have had the whole 
Socialist party of the empire behind him, since Liebknecht 
himself is in prison. It need not be said that the struggle 
between the Socialists and the Pan-Germans was not for the 
control of the Reichstag, but for the ear of the emperor. In- 
deed it is said that the first instructions to the Brest-Litovsk 
embassy were actually to conclude a Russian peace on a basis 
of no annevations and no indemnities, and that the sudden 
and shocking change of front was due to the emperor, who 
had succumbed meantime to the pressure of the militarists. 
At the moment of writing we hear of passionate speeches by 
Scheidemann, and of his threat that the government will be 
"hurled from power" -unless a peace with Russia be concluded 
by some honest understanding. Evidently the internal coun- 
cils of Germany have been marked by violent discords and 
fluctuations, and the chancellor's speech was postponed until 
its terms could be dictated by the successful faction. The 
Pan-Germans have won the day, but only against a formidable 
opposition, and by a narrow margin. Germany no longer 
speaks with a united voice, and this may usefully be remem- 
bered when considering the terms of the chancellor's speech. 
It is not the voice of Germany, but the voice of a German 
majority, and perhaps of a narrow one. And there is no 
immortality about majorities. 



The speech itself is, of course, of the most evasive kind. 
It contains practically nothing that is definite or tangible. 
That the Allies are pledged to the support of a common cause 
even where immediate self-interest seems to be in no way 
involved has not yet penetrated the Prussian mind, which 
would naturally be inhospitable to any ideas save those of 
gross and material selfishness. The chancellor evidently be- 
lieves that he can deal with each nation separately, and that 
its friends will remain indifferent so long as their own imme- 
diate aims are unaffected. Even Scheidemann says, "If one 
clear word is spoken regarding Belgium, England's war- 
mongering will end." His assertion that "an honorable com- 
plete reinstatement of Belgium is our duty" is a creditable 
one, although somewhat belated. Why did not Scheidemann 



While there are many hopeful features in the chancellor's 
speech — as, for example, his suggestion of a reply from the 
Entente Powers — it certainly contains nothing to justify the 
slightest relaxation of war preparations. The speech was 
obviously inspired by the war party and, as has been said, 
we may derive some satisfaction from the obvious existence 
of a war party as opposed to a peace party, and a very strong 
peace party. None the less a war party feels no political 
responsibilities. Its universe, past, present, and future, con- 
tains nothing but war. The ruins of Germany's trade, the 
fast-spreading wave of internal chaos, have no appeal for the 
soldier, whose heaven and hell are comprised in victory and 
defeat upon the field of war. The soldier in the saddle knows 
no restraints, and since the soldier is certainly in the German 
saddle — although he may not stay there for long — we may 
expect that he will strike some heavy blows before he can be 
unhorsed. 

I am still unable to see any reason for anticipating a Ger- 
man attack on the western front other than those sporadic 
assaults that are features of war everywhere. Germany will 
certainly bring no offensive without some reasonable prospect 
that it will be successful, and even those who are most cer- 
tain that she intends to attempt something big in Flanders or 
France are unable to advance any justification for expecting 
that Germany would meet a better fortune than she has met 
hitherto. We are continually reminded that she is moving 
"vast" bodies of men from her Russian lines. But when 
these reports are examined they are usually found to relate 
to troop transfers that are by no means vast, and that could 
have no real influence upon measures of the kind fore- 
shadowed. The situation in Russia becomes more serious for 
Germany day by day. She has not a single man more than 
she needs there for the waging even of a passive war. Poland, 
Lithuania, and Courland must be occupied by an army large 
enough to be security against uprisings. If Russia should 
actually reenter the war even in the purely guerilla way 
threatened by Trotzky, Germany would have far too few men 
to wage it. Nor need we attach much importance to a .pos- 
sible liberation of the Teuton prisoners now in Russia. There 
were originally some two million of these prisoners, but we 
are rather too prone to picture them as being suddenly lib- 
erated and hastening westward or southward to rejoin their 
commands. For whatever there may have been two years 
ago, there are certainly not two million Teuton prisoners now 
in Russia, nor anything approaching that number. Most of 
them were Austrian Slavs who voluntarily surrendered be- 
cause their sympathies were with the Russians and not with 
the Austrians. Certainly they would not willingly return to 
the Austrian armies. Indeed it would be almost impossible 
to compel them to do so. Then again the wastage of these 
prisoners must have been enormous. The conditions of Rus- 
sian internment camps are not exactly of the kind that tend 
to longevity, to put it mildly. The Turks are said to be par- 
ticularly kind to their prisoners, but the official reports show 
that they are now holding only about 2300 British prisoners. 
although they took 8000 at Kut el Amara alone. If the 
wastage here has been so heavy, what must it have been in 
Russia, where conditions have probably been much worse.- 1 
When we allow for the wastage, and also for the fact that 
most of these prisoners in Russia are Slavs, we need not be 
very apprehensive of the result of their liberation. 



The expectation of a German offensive in the west receives 
some support from Lloyd-George's appeal for another half- 
million men. Bgt there is no reason to suppose that these 
men are needed for any other purpose than to replace casual- 
ties. The winter is supposed to be a season of quiescence 
on the western front, and as a matter of fact no great battles 
have been fought But the minor operations that receive no 
more than a line or two of notice in the official bullet 
just about as costly in human life as the lar i i 
For the week ending January 14th the British 



68 



THE ARGONAUT 



February 2, 1918. 



about 25,000, and yet there had been no fighting other than 
raids and bombardments. Five months of this kind of fighting 
alone would consume the half-million men for whom the 
British premier has asked. This sporadic activity up and 
down the line is evidently of a much more substantial nature 
than the laconic bulletins would disclose, but we may note 
the fact that the advantage has been always with the Allies. 
Even the German bulletins claim nothing. The French have 
made a distinct success in the Vosges. The British have 
achieved their aims in nearly every case. And in Italy the 
Allied forces both in the Trentino and on the Piave have 
achieved actual victories, although small ones. If the German 
lines have been so strengthened from the east, at least we 
may say that the reinforcements have not yet been effective. 
If Germany has moved one hundred thousand men from east 
10 west she has certainly done no more than this, and that she 
should be able to do so much is quite a remarkable feat in 
transportation. Here in America we are thousands of miles 
from the fighting front, and we have only just begun to throw 
our real weight into the struggle. None the less we have 
something like a railroad paralysis already. What must be 
the condition of the German railroads after the strain of 
practically four years of war, and with a shortage of oils, 
metal, and men? If Lloyd-George had believed that Germany 
was about to make an unprecedented effort he would have 
asked for more than the half-million men that would do no 
more than repair the wastage of five months at the present 
rate of loss. Evidently he believes that the British army, 
restored to its strength of a few months ago, will be large 
enough for all emergencies, that it can hold the field against 
any effort made against it, and until the American force shall 
be able to put its shoulder to the wheel. 



INDIVIDUALITIES. 



I have already suggested that if Germany should strike at 
all she will probably follow her usual course, and direct her 
blows at the weakest rather than at the strongest point. The 
weakest of all points is probably Macedonia, and we may 
earnestly hope that the Allied army here has not been allowed 
to rust, and that its danger has not been overlooked. Next 
in importance comes Asia Minor, and the British armies to 
the northwest of Bagdad and to the north of Jerusalem. We 
may almost regard the Macedonia and Asia Minor fields as 
identical, since the Saloniki army is doing a very real work 
in protecting the communications of the British armies in 
the south. We may remember that this particular field of 
war is of vastly more importance to Germany than it is of 
interest to us in America. Germany is thinking more intently 
of Asia Minor and the Bagdad Railroad than she is of Bel- 
gium. Her western holdings are no more than cards to be 
played away in trade. Mittel Europe stretches from the 
North Sea to the Persian Gulf, and if a curtailment of the 
western end of that mighty belt of power has become in- 
evitable, she does not intend that it shall be curtailed at both 
ends. It is at least suggestive that Von Falkenhayn should 
have been placed in command in Asia Minor. So eminent a 
commander would certainly not have been given an honorary 
task. Germany can carry her men to Macedonia with con- 
siderable ease, and she can employ them usefully when she 
gets them there, far more usefully than in hurling them 
against western fortifications that she might conceivably bend, 
but that she knows she can not break. In an attack on the 
Saloniki army she would have the more or less veiled aid of 
the king's party in Greece, that is to say the adherents of 
Constantine, and these may be more numerous than we sup- 
pose. Venizelos himself is said to be surprised at their 
strength. Their influence at the rear of the Saloniki army 
might easily be paralyzing. It is to be hoped that one more 
blunder is not now to be added to the list of Balkan fiascos, 
and that measures to resist a Teuton offensive here will not 
be too late. 

Of the domestic situation in Austria we know practically 
nothing, except that there have been extensive strikes and a 
popular demand for peace. Our suspicion of German di- 
plomacy need not lead us so far as to believe that these stories 
have been invented in order to create a sense of false satis- 
faction among the Allies. They come through too many 
channels for that, and they are too well authenticated. Nor 
need we at once surrender to the theory that these disorders 
have actually been fomented, or at least tolerated, by the 
government, which sees in them an excuse for breaking away 
from the controlling tyrannies of Germany, but this latter 
theory is much more probable than the former. Revolution in 
Austria is exactly what one would expect from a country 
where imperial patriotism is almost unknown, and where so 
many nationalities have such good reasons to hope for Aus- 
trian defeat. The situation in Austria must at least be the 
cause of grave concern to Germany, not only for the con- 
tinued endurance of the alliance, but for the supply of muni- 
tions for which Austrian factories have made themselves 
responsible. Sidney Coryn. 

San Francisco, January 30, 1918. 



The first barbarians to settle permanently in the 
Balkan Peninsula coming from the northeast were the 
Bulgars, a Finnish people whose home was the middle 
Volga districts. The Slavs are said to have begun to 
pour into this region as early as the third century, 
but they were not established until after the Bulgarian 
invasion. 



Lloyd-George is credited with having found the right 

won' , with which to refer to the fighters in the air. 

■y flight is a romance, every fight is an epic," he 

"They are the knighthood of this war without 

v and without reproach." 



Count Hertling is the second imperial German chan- 
cellor of the Roman Catholic faith, Prince Hohenlohe 
having b;en the other. He is an accomplished Italian 
scholar, and boasts of his familiarity with the English 
classics. He has written a book on "John Locke and 
the Cambridge School." 

Jujiro Sakata, the new Japanese minister in Madrid, 
is a distinguished diplomatist of great reputation in 
his own country. He is a man of great culture, who 
has occupied various important diplomatic posts in Eu- 
rope, and speaks several languages to perfection. It 
was noted that on the occasion of his presentation at 
the Spanish court he spoke in English when addressing 
King Alfonso. 

W. Cameron Forbes, who is the new president of 
the Navy League of the United States and was for- 
merly governor-general of the Philippines, is a grand- 
son of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Since he returned from 
the Islands he has given attention to finance on a 
large scale ; and one of his chief tasks has been 
straightening out tangles in one of the great invest- 
ment schemes of American and European capitalists 
which had been operative in Brazil for a time, with 
untoward results. 

Guy Eastman Tripp, who has been made head of the 
production division of the ordnance department of the 
United States Army, is chairman of the board of di- 
rectors of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufactur- 
ing Company, and is known as one of the great execu- 
tives of the industrial world. He has served on im- 
portant state commissions in New York, is a member 
of the American Academy of Political and Social 
Science, and has wide ranging connections in the 
United States and Europe with large manufacturing 
nnd financial enterprises. 

The Honorable John Douglas Hazen, K. C, chief 
justice of New Brunswick, who has been appointed 
chairman of the arbitration board which Canada has 
named to sit jointly with a similar body from the 
United States and pass upon three fisheries disputes 
still disturbing relations between the two nations, has 
a wide reputation throughout the Dominion as a polit- 
ical leader, administrator, and lawyer. His choice for 
this post naturally has followed from his acquaintance 
with the problems involved gained while he was minis- 
ter of marine and fisheries and of naval affairs in the 
Dominion cabinet. 

Representative William B, McKinley of Illinois is 
oit 5 of the quietest men, if not the quietest, in Congress. 
He believes in action, not talk. When McKinley first 
went to Washington, however, he did have a talk in 
his bosom which he wanted to get rid of. So one day 
he arose in the House and clamored for recognition. 
As he was somewhat under five feet high it was dif- 
ficult for the Speaker to see him. Finally the latter 
fixed his eye on the Illinoisan and shouted out : "If 
the gentleman from Illinois would only stand up it 
would be easier for the chair to recognize him." "I 
am standing up," retorted McKinley. He never tried 
it again. 

Part, at least, of the gifts of Jascha Heifetz, the 
Russian violinist who has been the musical sensation 
of the current season, may be explained by heredity, 
for his father was in his own way a child prodigy upon 
the violin. Ruben Heifetz began to play at the age 
of four on a toy fiddle strung with threads, later teach- 
ing himself upon a genuine instrument. At the aga 
of twelve he was already earning his living as violinist 
in various cafes-chantant, and at sixteen he. had ad- 
vanced to membership in symphony orchestras, playing 
in Riga, Lodz, and Warsaw. Somewhat later he settled 
in Vilna, marrying a young lady of that city. Jascha 
was their first child. 

Nikolai Lenine's faher is said to have been a German 
Jew, and his real name is Zedarbaum. The London 
Chronicle, however, believes Lenine to be the son of a 
Russian squire named Ulianov.- He received the educa- 
tion of a country gentleman, but became interested in 
the condition of the peasants, and took up socialism as 
a means of improving it. His brother was executed 
as a revolutionist in 1887, and he himself has been in 
prison for a political offense. He is a pacifist, and has 
written that "the war was made by crowned vampires, 
capitalists, and middle-class people." His aim is gen- 
eral peace, and he has quarreled with all who dared 
differ from his opinions. 

Apropos of Rudyard Kipling's fifty-second birthday 
on December 30th last, his former editorial superior, 
E. Ray Robinson, observed: "There was one pe- 
culiarity of Kipling's work which I really must men- 
tion, namely, the enormous amount of ink he used to 
throw about. In the heat of summer white cotton 
trousers and a thin vest constituted his office attire, 
and by the day's end he was spotted all over like a 
Dalmatian dog. He had a habit of dipping his pen 
frequently and deep into the inkpot, and as all his 
movements were abrupt, almost jerky, the ink used to 
fly. When he darted into my room, as he used to do 
about one thing or another in connection with the 
contents of the paper a dozen times in the morning I 



had to shout to him to 'stand off' ; otherwise, as I knew 
by experience, the abrupt halt he would make, and the 
flourish with which he placed the proof in his hand 
before me, would send a penful of ink — he always had 
a full pen in his hand — flying over me." 



OLD FAVORITES. 



The True Beauty. 
He that loves a rosy cheek 

Or a coral lip admires, 
Or from star-like eyes doth seek 

Fuel to maintain his fires; 
As old Time makes these decay, 
So his flames must waste away. 

But smooth and steadfast mind, 
Gentle thoughts, and calm desires, 

Hearts with equal love combined, 
Kindle never-dying fires: — 

Where these are not, I despise 

Lovely cheeks or lips or eyes. 

«, — Thomas Carew. 

Bonnie O'Doon. 
Ye banks and braes o' bonnie Doon 

How can ye bloom sae fair! 
How can ye chant, ye little birds. 

And I sae fir* o' care ! 

Thou'll break my heart, thou bonnie bird 

That sings upon the bough ; 
Thou minds me o' the happy days 

When my fause Luve was true. 

Thou'll break my heart, thou bonnie bird 

That sings beside thy mate ; 
For sae I sat, and sae I sang, 

And wist na o' my fate. 

Aft hae I roved by bonnie Doon 

To see the woodbine twine, 
And ilka bird sang o' its love; 

And sae did I o' mine. 

Wi' lightsome heart I pu'd a rose, 

Frae aff its thorny tree ; 
And my fause luver staw the rose, 

But left the thorn wi' me. — Robert Burns. 



(The Outlaw. 

Brignall banks are wild and fair, 
And Greta woods are green, 

And you may gather garlands there 

Would grace a summer queen. 
And as I rode by Dalton Hall 

Beneath the turrets high, 
A Maiden on the castle wall 

Was singing merrily: 
"O Brignall banks are fresh and fair, 

And Greta woods are green ; 
I'd rather rove with Edmund there 

Than reign our English queen." 

"If, Maiden, thou wouldst wend with me, 

To leave both tower and town. 
Thou first must guess what life lead we 

That dwell by dale and down. 
And if thou canst that riddle read, 

As read full well you may, 
Then to the greenwood shalt thou speed 

As blithe as Queen of May." 
Yet sung she, "Brignall's banks are fair, 

And Greta woods are green ; 
I'd rather rove with Edmund there 

Than reign our English queen. 

"I read you, by your bugle-horn 
And by your palfrey good, 

1 read you for a ranger sworn 

To keep the king's greenwood.'* 
"A Ranger, lady, winds his horn. 

And 'tis at peep of light; 
His blast is heard at merry morn, 

And mine at dead of night." 
Yet sung she, "Brignall banks are fair, 

And Greta woods are gay ; 
I would I were with Edmund there 

To reign his Queen of May I 

"With burnish'd brand and musketoon 

So gallantly you come, 
I read you for a bold Dragoon 

That lists the tuck of drum." 
"I list no more the tuck of drum, 

No more the trumpet hear; 
But when the beetle sounds his hum 

My comrades take the spear. 
And O! though Brignall banks be fair 

And Greta woods be gay, 
Yet mickle must the maiden dare 

Would reign my Queen of May ! 

"Maiden ! a nameless life I lead, 

A nameless death I'll die ; 
The fiend whose lantern lights the mead 

Were better mate than I ! 
And when I'm with my comrades met 

Beneath the greenwood bough, — 
What once we were we all forget, 

Nor think what we are now." 

Chorus. 
"Yet Brignall banks are fresh and fair, 

And Greta woods are green, 
And you may gather garlands there 
Would grace a summer queen." 

— Sir Walter Scott. 



In the event of land nationalization in Russia there 
is no lack of the material to go round. An equal di- 
vision all round will give about thirty-three acres to 
each inhabitant, while if Asiatic Russia were considered 
by itself the allowance would be as much as ISO acres. 
The same process applied to the United Kingdom (in- 
cluding Ireland) would yield only about one and a half 
acre apiece; and to the whole British Empire twenty 
acres apiece. 



February 2, 1918. 



THE ARGONAUT 



69 



'ADVENTURES" IN AMERICAN CITIES. 

• 

Julian Street Once More Takes His Walks Abroad. 



Fisher, Frank, of J. However, as we drove back to Baltimore that evening, we 

Upon inquiry' I learned that the significance of this was repeatedly assured one another that we did not believe in 

that, there being more than one gentleman of the name of 

Frank Fisher in the city, this Mr. Frank Fisher added "of J" 

to his name (meaning "son of John") for purposes of dif- 






It is a far cry, unfortunately, from the wit or humor 
of ephemeral periodical writing to the wit or humor 
that will stand up under the test of the less ephemeral 
print of a bound volume. "Unfortunately," because it 
has spoiled an otherwise quite readable and preservable 
volume — Julian Street's "American Adventures." 

Or is it that Mr. Street's "funniness" is really funny 
to readers in the part of the United States where Mr. 
Street has his largest audiences? 

For instance, Julian relates in this book his visit to 
Baltimore, a city concerning which he had, previously, 
"but two definite impressions : the first was of a tunnel, 
filled with coal gas, through which trains pass beneath 
the city ; the second was that when a southbound train 
left Baltimore the time had come to think of cleaning 
up, preparatory to reaching Washington." 

The city, when he gets into it, entices him through 
one after another of its various brick-lined streets until 
he winds up among some of the sellers of antiques, 
whereupon he pauses to offer the following: 

What curious differences there are between the customs of 
one trade and those of another. Compare, for instance, the 
dealer in old furniture with the dealer in old automobiles. 
The latter, far from pronouncing a machine of which he 
wishes to dispose "a genuine antique," will assure you — and 
not always with a strict regard for truth — that it is "prac- 
tically as good as new." Or compare the seller of antiques 
with the horse dealer. Can you imagine the tatter's taking 
you up to some venerable quadruped — let alone a three-year- 
old — and discoursing upon its merits in some such manner as 
the following : 

"This is the oldest and most historic horse that has ever 
come into my possession. Just look at it, sir ! The farmer of 
whom I bought it assured me that it was brought over by his 
ancestors in the Mayflower. The place where I found it was 
used as Washington's headquarters during the Revolutionary 
War, and it is known that Washington himself frequently sat 
on this very horse. It was a favorite of his. For he was a 
large man and he liked a big, comfortable, deep-seated horse, 
well braced underneath, and having strong arms, so that he 
could tilt it back comfortably against the wall, with its front 

legs off the floor, and " 

However, a writer who has had most of his training 
in the superficial school of modern journalism must be 
forgiven much, and so must it be with Julian Street. 
For, apart from ever-recurring bits of inanity of the 
above kind, he does succeed in carrying one quite cheer- 
fully and enjoyably through the cities of the South, 
and the journey is. on the whole, worth while. The 
present and the past of these cities are rather grace- 
fully interwoven, some old romances, old personalities, 
and old legends revived, and the atmospheres of the 
respective communities successfully differentiated. 

Baltimore's red brick houses, traditional and pictur- 
esque, are blended in with the Baltimore that followed 
the fire of 1904. Here, for example, is an impression 
of the red brick: 

The color of red brick is not confined to the centre of the 
city, but spreads to the suburbs, fashionable and unfashion- 
able. At one margin of the town I was shown solid blocks of 
pleasant red-brick houses which, I was told, were occupied 
by workmen and their families, and were to be had at a 
rental of from ten to twenty dollars a month. For though 
Baltimore has a lower East Side which, like the lower East 
Side of New York, encompasses the Ghetto and Italian quar- 
ter she has not tenements in the New York sense; one sees 
no tall cheap flat houses draped with fire escapes and built to 
make herding places for the poor. Many of the houses in 
this section are instead the former homes of fashionables who 
have moved to other quarters of the city— handsome old home- 
steads with here and there a lovely, though battered, door- 
way sadly reminiscent . of an earlier elegance, So, also, red 
brick permeates the prosperous suburbs, such as Roland Park 
and Guilford, where, in a sweetly rolling country which lends 
itself to the arrangement of graceful winding roads and softly 
contoured plantings, stand quantities of pleasing homes lately 
built many of them colonial houses of red brick. Indeed, it 
struck us that the only parts of Baltimore in which red brick 
was not the dominant note were the downtown business sec- 
tion and Mount Vernon Place. 

A picture of the reconstruction follows, after the 
writer has paused to observe that Baltimore, like all 
other American cities which have experienced a great 
disaster, lacked the courage to "go the limit" and really 
construct. Mr. Street remarks: 

And then the upbuilding of the city— not only of the acres 
and acres comprising the burned section, in which streets were 
widened and skyscrapers arose where firetraps had been— but 
outside the fire zone, where sewers were put down and pave- 
ments laid. Nor was the change merely physical. With the 
old buildings, the old spirit of laissez faire went up in smoke 
and in the embers a municipal conscience was born. Almost 
as though by the light of the flames which engulfed it the city 
began to see itself as it had never seen itself before: to take 
account of stock, to plan broadly for the future. . . . 

Every one in Baltimore is proud of the Fallsway, but par- 
ticularly so are the city engineers who carried the work 
through. While in Baltimore I had the pleasure of meeting 
one of these gentlemen, and I can assure you that no young 
head of a family was ever more delighted with his new cot- 
tage in a suburb, his wife, his children, his garden, and his 
collie puppy, than was this engineer with his boulevard sewer. 
Like a lover, he carried pictures of it m his pocket and like 
a lover he would assure you that it was not like other 
sewers." Nor could he speak of it without beginning to wish 
to take you out to see it-not merely for a motor ride along 
the top of it, either. No, his hospitality did not stop there 
When he invited you to a sewer he invited you in. And u 
you went in with him, no one could make you come out until 
you wanted to. 

A welcome willingness to pause for the observance of 
little things is one of the author's characteristics, as for 
example : 

In the Baltimore telephone book I chanced to notice under 
the letter "F" the entry: 



ferentiation. I was informed further than this custom is not 
uncommon in Baltimore, in cases where a name is duplicated, 
and I was shown another example : that of Mr. John Fyfe 
Symington of S. 



Throughout his journey Mr. Street, apparently, was 
under very excellent social pilotage. At any rate he 
was inducted into many of the most typical and ex- 
clusive homes and "mansions" of the South, and was 
enabled to create pen reflections of the interior, as well 
as the exterior, spirit of this side of Southern life. 

This is exemplified by his description of the famous 
mansion of the Carrolls of Carrollton, in the vicinity of 
Baltimore. He observes: 



Viewed in one light Doughoregan Manor is a monument, 
in another it is a treasure house of ancient portraits and 
furniture and silver, but above all it is a home. The beauti- 
fully proportioned dining-room, the wide hall which passes 
through the house from the front portico to another over- 
looking the terraces and gardens at the back, the old shadowy 
library with its tree-calf bindings, the sunny breakfast-room, 
the spacious bedchambers with their four-posters and their 
cheerful chintzes, the big bright shiny pantries and kitchens, 
all have that pleasant, easy air which comes of being lived in, 
and which is never attained in a "show place" which is merely 
a "show place" and nothing more. No dining-table at which 
great personages have dined in the past has the charm of one 
the use of which has been steadily continued ; no old chair 
but is better for being sat in ; no ancient Sheffield tea service 
but gains immeasurably in charm from being used for tea to- 
day: no old Venetian mirror but what is lovelier for reflecting 
the beauties of the present as it reflected those of the past : 
no little old-time crib but what is better for a modern baby in 
it. It is pleasant, therefore, to report that, like all other 
things the house contains, the crib at Doughoregan Manor 
was being used when we were there, for in it rested the baby 
son of the house ; by name Charles, and of his line the ninth. 
Further, it may be observed that from his youthful parents, 
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bancroft Carroll, present master and 
mistress of the place, Master Charles seemed to have inherited 
certain amiable traits. Indeed, in some respects, he outdoes 
his parents. For example, where the father and mother were 
cordial, the son chewed ruminatively upon his fingers and 
fastened upon my companion a gaze not merely interested, 
but expressive of enraptured astonishment. Likewise, though 
his parents received us kindly, they did not crow and gurgle 
with delight ; and though, on our departure, they said that we 
might come again, they neither waved their hands nor yet 
blew bubbles. 



ghosts. 

At Fredericksburg the writer visits one of the old 
Virginia mansions, the Fitzhugh House, and offers, 
apropos of that visit, this little personal touch : 

I shall always remember the delightful experience of 
awakening in that room, so vast, dignified, and beautiful, and 
of lying there a little drowsy, and thinking of those who had 
been there before me. This was the room occupied by George 
and Martha Washington when they stopped for a few days 
at Chatham on their wedding journey ; this was the room 
occupied by Madison, by Monroe, by Washington Irving, and 
by Robert E. Lee when he visited Chatham and courted Mary 
Custis, who became his wife. And, most wonderful of all to 
me, this was the room occupied by Lincoln when he came to 
Fredericksburg to review the army, while Chatham was Union 
headquarters, and the embattled Lee had headquarters in the 
old house known as Brompton, still standing on Marye's 
Heights back of the river and the town, it is said that Lee 
during the siege of Fredericksburg never turned his guns on 
Chatham, because of his sentiment for the place. As I lay 
there in the morning I wondered if Lee had been aware, at 
the time, that Lincoln was under the roof of Chatham, and 
whether Lincoln knew, when he slept in "my" room, that 
Washington and Lee had both been there before him. 

Virginia's fox hunts, picturesque remnants of ancient 
days, are witnessed and described by Mr. Street, with 
the interjection of a short skit to illustrate the hold 
that the sport still has upon the people of that section. 
The skit is given as related to Mr. Street : 



A tale of the South without its proper ghost story 
would be no tale of that section at all, and so Mr. Street 
accommodates the reader with a rather circumstantial 
observation made by himself in the old Hampton man- 
sion of Annapolis. It is interesting enough to bear full 
quotation : 

After tea, when fading twilight had deepened the shadows 
in the house, we went up the stairway, past the landing with 
its window containing the armorial bearings of the family in 
stained glass, and, achieving the upper hall, crossed to a great 
bedchamber, the principal guest room, and paused just inside 
the door. . . . 

I do not think that I had definitely thought of ghost stories 
before, and I know that ghosts had not been spoken of, but 
as I looked into this room, and reflected on the long series of 
persons who had occupied it, and on where they were now, 
and on all the stories that the room must have heard, there 
entered my mind thoughts of the supernatural. 

Having taken a step or two into the room, I was a little 
in advance of my three friends, and as these fancies came 
strongly to me, I spoke over my shoulder to one of them, who 
was at my right and a little behind me, saying, half play- 
fully : 

"There ought to be ghosts in a room like this." 
Hardly had I spoken when without a sound, and swinging 
very slowly, the door of the large piece of furniture before 
me gently opened. My first idea was that the thing must be 
a closet, built against the wall, with a door at the back opening 
on a passageway, or into the next room, and that the little 
girl whom we had met downstairs had opened it from the 
other side and was coming in. 

I fully expected to see her enter. But she did not enter, 
for, as I learned presently, she was in the nursery at the 
time. 

After waiting for an instant to see who was coming, I 
began to realize that there was no one coming ; that no one 
had opened the door ; that, like an actor picking up a cue, 
the door had begun to swing immediately upon my saying 
the word "ghosts." 

The appropriateness of the coincidence was striking. I 
turned quickly to my friends, who were in conversation be- 
hind me, and asked: 

"Speaking of ghosts — did you see that door open?" 
It is my recollection that none of them had seen it. Cer- 
tainly not more than one of them had, for I remember my 
feeling of disappointment that any one present should have 
missed so strange a circumstance. Some one may have asked 
what I had seen ; at all events I was full of the idea, and, 
indicating the open door, I began to tell what I had seen, 
when — exactly as though the thing were done deliberately to 
circumstantiate my story — with the slow, steady movement of 
a heavy door pushed by a feeble hand, the other portal of 
the huge cabinet swung open. 

This time all four of us were looking. 

Presently, as we moved across the wide hall to go down- 
stairs again, Bryan came from one of the other chambers, 
whither, I think, he had carried the young lady's supper on 
a tray. 

"Are there supposed to be any ghosts in this house?' I 
asked him. 

Bryan showed his white teeth in the remi-darknesa. 
Whether he believed in ghosts or not, evidently he did not 
fear them. 

"Yes, sir," he said. "We're supposed to have a ghost 
here." 

"Where ?" 

"In that room over there," he answered, indicating the bed- 
room from which we had come. 

We listened attentively to Bryan while he told how the 
daughter of Governor Swan had come to attend a ball at 
Hampton, and how she had died in the four-post bed in that 
old shadowy guest room, and of how, since then, she had 
been seen from time to time. 

"They's several people say they saw her," he finished. 
"She comes out and combs her hair in front of the mirror." 



A man from the Department of Agriculture came down 
into our section to look over the farms and give advice to 
farmers. He went to see one farmer in my county and found 
that he had absolutely nothing growing, and that his live- 
stock consisted of three hunters and thirty-two couples of 
hounds. The agricultural expert was scandalized. He told 
the farmer he ought to begin at once to raise hogs. "You 
can feed them what you feed the dogs," he said, "and have 
good meat for your family aside from what you sell." 

After hearing the visitor out, the farmer looked off across 
the country and spat ruminatively. 

"I aint never seen no hawg that could catch a fox," he 
said, and with that turned and went into the barn, evidently 
regarding the matter as closed. 

As was to be expected, Mr. Street found very little 
in the South to recall the bitterness of the Civil War. 
He observes: 

Even from old Confederate soldiers I heard no expressions 
of violent feeling. They spoke gently, handsomely, and often 
humorously of the war, but never harshly. Real hate, I think, 
remains chiefly in one quarter : in the hearts of some old 
ladies, the wives and widows of Confederate soldiers — for 
there are but few mothers of the soldiers left. . . . 

More than once, when my companion and I were received in 
Southern homes with a cordiality that precluded any thought 
of sectional feeling, we were nevertheless warned by members 
of the younger generation — and their eyes would twinkle as 
they said it — to "look out for mother ; she's unreconstructed." 
And you may be sure that when we were so warned we did 
"look out." It was well to do so ! For though the mother 
might be a frail old lady, past seventy, with the face of ai, 
angel and the normal demeanor of a saint, we could see her 
bridle, as we were presented to her, over the thought that 
here were two Yankees in her home — Yankees ! — we could see 
the light come flashing up into her eyes as they encountered 
ours, and could feel beneath the veil of her austere civility 
the dagger points of an eternal enmity. By dint of self- 
control on her part, and the utmost effort upon ours to be 
tactful, the presentation ceremony was got over with, and 
after some formal speeches, resembling those which, one fan- 
cies, may be exchanged by opposing generals under a flag of 
truce, we would be rescued from her, removed from the room, 
before her forbearance should be strained, by our presence, to 
the point of breaking. A baleful look would follow us as we 
withdrew, and we would retire with a better understanding 
of the flaming spirit which, through that long, bloody conflict 
against overwhelming odds in wealth, supplies, and men. sus- 
tained the South, and which at last enabled it to accept de- 
feat as nobly as it had accepted earlier victories. . . . How 
one loves a gentle old lady who can hate like that '. 



Throughout the South, Mr. Street declares, there 
prevails a tendency to make sport of North Carolina, 
very much, perhaps, as in the West there has prevailed 
a habit of jibing at Missouri, or Kansas, or Arkansas. 
And Mr. Street evidently is impressed with the spirit 
of this jesting, for he gives but meagre material re- 
garding the state and most of what he does give is 
taken up with Josephus Daniels and a character called 
"Latta," who operates a "university" for negroes. 

Concerning North Carolina's impression of Daniels, 
who owns a paper at Raleigh, Mr. Street quotes a 
"gentleman who was far from an unqualified admirer" : 

"He is the old type of Methodist," he said. "He is the kind 
of man who believes that the whale swallowed Jonah. He 
has the same concept of religion that he had as a child. _ I 
differ with his policies, his mental methods, but I don't think 
anybodv here doubts that he is trying, not only to do the 
moral thing himself, but to force others to adopt, as rules 
for public conduct, the exact code in which he personally 
believes, and which he certainly follows. His mental pro- 
cesses are often crude, yet he has much native shrewdness 
and the ability to grasp situations as they arise." 

Memphis, another city which "reconstructed" after 
disaster, "passionate Palm Beach," and various other 
cities are visited and portrayed, and usually Mr. Street 
succeeds in catching the atmosphere and also in 
peopling it with really believable entities. He closes 
his journey at New Orleans with a happy blending of 
voudooism. Mardi Gras, and modern commerce. 

Barring the often atrocious attempts at humor, the 
volume is worth the time spent on its perusal. Perhaps 
when the author has made enough adventures into the 
interior of his own country, New Yorkitis will fade 
from his composition and the good humor which ob- 
viously forms no inconsiderable part of his personality 
will have a chance to shake off its outer husk. 

American Adventures. By Julian Street. 
York: The Century Company; $3. 



70 



THE ARGONAUT 



February 2, 1918. 



ESTABLISHED 1858 

SUTRO S? CO 

Investment Brokers 

AND DEALERS IN HIGH GRADE 

SECURITIES 

YIELEING PROM 

4%% to 7% 

DETAILED INFORMATION UPON REQUEST 
INQUIRIES INVITED 



410 Montgomery St. 



S. F., Cal. 



BUSINESS NOTES. 



The bank clearings for the week ended 
Saturday, January 26th, as reported by the 
San Francisco Clearing House Association, 
aggregated $87,264,001.40, as compared with 
a total of $79,308,983.70 in the corresponding 
week in 1917. The total of Saturday's clear- 
ings was $12,411,935.31. 



The weekly statement of the Federal Re- 



McDonnell & co. 

Announce 

the removal of their main office 

to 

the new 

San Francisco Stock and Bond 
Exchange Building 

335 MONTGOMERY STREET 

Garfield 1920 



serve Bank of San Francisco shows total re- 
sources of $169,116,000, as compared with 
5172,579,000 in the preceding week. The 
total reserves, of which $101,276,000 are 
actual gold, now amount to $101,704,000, or 
67.90 per cent, on the bank's net deposit and 
note liability. Notes in actual circulation now 
amount to $67,482,000. 



Frank C. Mortimer has come back from 



E. F. HUTTON & CO. 

Home Office, 61 Broadway 

Branches: 

WOOLWORTH BUILDING 

PLAZA HOTEL 

NEW YORK 



MEMBERS: 
New York Stock Exchange 
New York Cotton Exchange 
New Orleans Cotton Exchange 
Liverpool Cotton Association 
Chicago Board of Trade 



CALIFORNIA OFFICES: 

490 California Street 

St. Francis Hotel 

Bond Department, 343 Powell Street 

San Francisco 

First National Bank Building 

Oakland 

118 West Fourth Street 

Alexandria Hotel 

Los Angeles 

Hotel Maryland 

Pasadena 



Through Private Wire 
California Points to New York 



Xew York. He left San Francisco early in 
December as Pacific Coast representative of 
the Xational City Bank of Xew York, and he 
has just returned for a brief farewell visit as 
assistant cashier of the most powerful banking 
institution in the Western Hemisphere. He 
will serve at the head office of the National 
City under Frank A. Yanderlip, one of "the 
most progressive bankers in the United States. 



Bond & Goodwin 

COMMERCIAL PAPER 
BONDS 



454 CALIFORNIA STREET 
SAN FRANCISCO 



EOS" ^M CHICAGO SEATTLE 

■NEW VORK MINNEAPOLIS PHILADELPHIA 



Mr. Mortimer will be succeeded here by 
Stephen E. Albeck, assistant vice-president of 
the Xational City, who has grown up in the 
service of the bank. Albeck will arrive early 
in February and Mr. Mortimer will leave for 
the East immediately thereafter. Under Vice- 
President Thomas A. Reynolds, Mortimer will 
take charge of the Pacific district business of 
the National City, having as an associate Rob- 
ert Forgan of the well-known Chicago banking 
family of that name. 

Mr. Mortimer began his banking career with 
the Bank of California, later going to the 
Mission Bank as cashier and then to the First 
Xational of Berkeley, where he served as 
cashier for ten years. He was with the Na- 
tional City for a year as Coast representative 
before being called East to be offered a posi- 
tion in the head office. 



5.11 per cent., while on December 31, 1917, 
when the government took over the roads, 
the investment was $17,203,000,000, which 
would make the return 5.04 per cent. It may 
be noted that the Interstate Commerce Com- 
mission also presented a statement, covering 
95. S7 per cent, of the railway mileage, which 
showed that the average return to the roads 
under the bill would be $896,259,264 on an 
investment of $16,873,832,797, or 5.31 per 
cent. The railroads' statement showed that 
the Southern roads led for the period in ques- 
tion, the return on their investment being 
equivalent to 5.50 per cent., the Eastern roads 
showing 5.23 per cent, while the Western 
roads earned only 5.14 per cent. 



F. M. BROWN & CO. 

HICH GRADE 

Investment Securities 

Government, State, Municipal 
and Corporation 

BONDS 

300 Sansome Street, Sao Francisco, Cal. 

List of Current Offerings on Application. 



McDonnell & Co. are now located in their 
new offices on the ground floor of the San 
Francisco Stock and Bond Exchange Building 
on Montgomery Street. The new offices are 
among the finest and best equipped in the 
city for the transaction of business in their 
line. 

On the same day Congress passed without 
roll-call a bill to appropriate a hundred mil- 
lion dollars to carry out the farm loan plan, 
it promptly side-tracked a bill to loan the 
railroads the same amount. We cite this as 
illustrative of the attitude of the government 
toward the railroads for the last twenty-five 
years. It is not the war which has produced 
the present transportation crisis, but railroad 
regulation and railroad baiting, particularly 
during the past decade. 

There are some who are now saying that if 
the government aids the railroads it should 
own them. If that is a valid inference from 
government aid. it could be argued with even 
greater force that the government, which aids 
the farmer, should own the farms. It is a 
case of the production of the necessities of 
life compared with their transportation. But, 
high as are the necessities of life, we have 
never known a farmer or a farmers' organiza- 
tion to argue that the solution of the food I 
problem is to turn the farms over to the j 
government. 

We regard the government ownership of 
farms as no more absurd than the government 
ownership of railroads. Farmers have never 
been the object of government regulation or 
attack, but to help along the nation's basic i 
industry the government is loaning money to ! 
farmers at a comparatively low rate and for 
long periods. The railroads are in their pres- 
ent state because of government attack, and 
it is only right that the government should 
get beneath them during the critical period of 
the war. This seems to be the sensible con- 
clusion of President Wilson. Let Congress 
bear that fact in mind. — Leslie's Weekly. 



The annual report of the Secretary* of the 
Treasury contains this statement : 

"The first Libert}- Loan was sold and paid 
for between January 15th and August 31, 
1917, and it is interesting to note that the 
reports of the national banks show that be- 
tween the calls for reports from these banks 
of May 1, 1917, and September 11, 1917, em- 
bracing the period in which the first Liberty 
Loan was taken up and paid for, the national 
banks of the country, instead of being drained 
of their resources through these vast collec- 
tions by the government, actually showed an 
increase of $154,000,000 in the sum total of 
their deposits for that period. The payments 
for the second Libert}- Loan were made with 
the same ease that marked the settlements of 
the first." 

To the effective machinery' afforded by the 
Federal Reserve Banks is attributed the exe- 
cution of these tremendous and unprecedented 
financial operations without a tremor of finan- 
cial disturbance. 

The total deposits on November 20, 1917, 
of the 7650 national banks amounted to $14,- 
798.000,000, an increase over November 17, 
1916, of $2,309,000,000, and an increase over 
September 11, 1917, of $1,564,000,000. The 
total resources of these banks on November 
20th were $18,553,000,000. 



In the course of the investigation of the 
railway situation by the Senate and House 
Committees on Interstate Commerce in con- 
nection with the government control bill, a 
compilation prepared by the Bureau of Rail- 
way Economics was filed with the committees 
showing how the proposed guarantee of reve- 
nues to the railroad companies would result. 
According to this, the revenue of roads com- 
prising 86 per cent, of the country's mileage, 
based upon their average operating net earn- 
ings for the three years ending June 30, 1917, 
would give the companies an aggregate an- 
nual return of S866.214.SS4, or 5.22 per cent., 
upon an average investment of $16,597,545.- 
176. It was. however, pointed out that on 
June 30, 1917, the investment amounted to 
$16,965,258,001, and that on this sum the re- 
turn proposed in the pending bill would be 



There is a marked shortage of olive oil in f 
New Zealand, and the outlook is not promis- 
ing for increased supplies, unless it be from 
South Australia. Palestine is practically out 
of the market. South Australian olive oil is J 
now selling at $5.35 per gallon in four-gallon i 
tins, and it is possible it might later reach ; 
$6.80 to $7.30 per gallon. The prewar prices 
for olive oil were $2.55 to $3.04 for Italian, 
and $3.65 to $4.25 for Palestine per gallon. 
i A list of grocers with whom those interested 
can correspond can be obtained at the Bureau 
of Foreign and Domestic Commerce or its dis- 
trict or cooperative offices by referring to file 
No. 95.896.) 

For the information of American manufac- 
turers and others desirous of selling materials 
to the Allied governments, it is announced 
that arrangements were entered into in the 
latter part of August, 1917, by the Secretary 
of the Treasury, with the approval of the 
President, with the governments of Great 
Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Belgium, and 
Serbia, whereby Messrs. Bernard M. Baruch, 
Robert S- Lovett, and Robert S. Brookings 
of the War Industries Board were designated 
a commission through whom or with whose 
approval or consent all purchases in the 
United States of materials and supplies by or 
on behalf of these governments shall be made. 

Under this arrangement these governments 
communicate their requirements for ma- 
terials and supplies to this commission 
through their designated purchasing agents in 
this country, and the commission then uses 
its best efforts to obtain offers of the ma- 
terials and supplies required at the best ob- 
tainable pric